That One Monday That Changed Everything
by nycolesbutera
Summary: As Spring Break rolls around, Luan finds herself separated from her boyfriend, Benny. However, a trip to Muncie, Indiana to visit him may turn into something so much more. The Loud House belongs to Chris Savino. Garfield belongs to Jim Davis. Rated M for violence, strong language, drug use and sexual themes.
1. a tumultuous day

It was an early tepid, bright sunny and rainy Spring morning in Royal Woods, MI. Flowers started blooming on trees, several residents started to volunteer at the local park to plant trees, rainbows started to appear a lot often in the sky, kids were jumping in puddles filled with laughter. Tiny raindrops fell down from the sky and landed on a window of a driving car.

Lynn Sr. was driving his kids to school and his wife to work. It wasn't a good time in Vanzilla, they had to listen to his awful choice of music on the whole ride. Whenever someone wanted to change the radio station, he would give them a dirty look and changed it back. An older Luna constantly begged her father to stop the music and singing along to it.

"Pops, you're already giving me a migraine!" Luna whined. Her siblings minus Luan agreed with her statement.

"Well… who's car is it? If you have a problem with my CD, then… You're just gonna have to put up with it." Lynn Sr. questioned.

"Yours…" Luna begin to talk under her breath, which her father heard. "I just don't understand, man. You really cannot sing. At all."

"I heard that!" He replied with a bit of anger in his voice.

While the car was full of communication between the parents and the children, 15-year-old Luan, she now looks nearly unrecognizable. Her hair was finally let down, she wore different clothing but of course, there was still pink and yellow coordinated.

She had gold colored earbuds on, looking out the window. The beautiful sun shined upon her reddish-brown hair. She couldn't take her mind off of Benny, her first crush. The only class periods they have together are: Drama Arts and lunch. He meant the whole world to her, when Luan was down in the dumps, he could wipe her tears away and hugged her. When she was happy, he adored seeing that smile, anytime or anywhere. Majority of the time in Drama Arts, they would spend their time kissing behind the stage curtains, they gotten caught by Mrs. Bernardo almost every time. As Luan continued daydreaming about it, a voice interrupted her. She jumped up from fear and hit her head.

Lori was also absent since she had gone to university.

"Earth to Luan! We're at school!" Leni said with enthusiasm as she tugged Luan's shoulder to get her attention. "We're gonna be late for first period."

"Oh, sorry." Luan snapped back to reality, grabbed her bookbag, her phone and got out of Vanzilla.

As the elder sisters walked into the school, the hallways were crowded like always., kids were talking and walking, Once they arrived at the school, the elder sisters said their goodbyes to their parents and entered the school with an array of emotions varying from disinterest and apathy to anxiety over tests and other assignments. Once inside, they saw that the hallways were crowded with students, some heading towards their first classes, but others standing around to engage in chit chat with their peers. Aside from the usual conversations that focused on gossip and plans for the weekend, there was nothing that piqued the interest of the sisters. Luan in particular, was still somewhat daydreaming, having drowned out the world around her and thinking about Benny.

"This place smells like butt and Lynn's dirty socks all in one! I'm surprised they haven't anything about the flooding water in the teachers lounge from last month." Luna said with disgust. "Anyway, I'd better head off to class. Catch ya later."

"Wait for me!" Leni said as she got caught up with Luna.

As Leni and Luna left, a familiar figure walked to one of the girls and waved at her. It was Sam. Luna couldn't believe it. She finally returned to school after days of feeling under the weather. A small flu has been going around the town lately. Only a few people were infected by it.

"Hey, Sammy! You feeling better?" Luna blushed and smiled as she said those words.

"Yeah. That flu was something else, rather not go into details. But let me say for sure, my stomach was screwed up the whole time." Sam replied back.

"Oh, okay. Glad you're feeling good. I missed you, Sam. I really did." Luna said.

"I missed you too, girl. Now let's get to class before Mr. Cameron marks one of us absent." Both of the girls ran to class while Luan was all left alone.

Just then, Luan snapped back to reality and looked around and to find that all of the sisters left. She went off to her first period class, which was Drama Arts, her favorite class besides French class. Mimes inspired her to learn about the culture. She knew several words of the language and also speak in a full sentence, kinda. Anyway, she walked into the auditorium where the students would usually practice. But today seemed a bit off.

"Huh?" Luan questioned with a puzzled look as she looked around. "What's going on?"

Luan looked up and saw a young woman onstage, reading from a piece of paper. Luan slowly approached with caution as the woman's voice sounded vaguely familiar. She just couldn't put her finger on where she had heard it before. As she drew closer to the woman, Luan was finally able to recognize where she'd heard that voice before.

"Ugh, you've got to be kidding me," Luan groaned as she sat in her seat, haphazardly placing her backpack on the ground. "Out of all the teachers at this school, why did they have to choose this one?"

Before Luan said anything else, the teacher starts introducing herself to the class.

"Hi, there. For the ones who don't know who I am, I'm Mrs. Dawson. A 10th-11th grade math teacher." Your regular teacher, Mrs. Bernado is out today so I will fill her in for a few days." The teacher said, introducing themselves with a tired look on their face.

"Umm… Mrs. D, I hate to ask you this but why do you look so beat? How come you didn't get a full night's rest?" A student asked.

"That's none of your concern, Jane. But when I finally get home, I will take a long, long nap. Anyways, there was I? Oh! I was about to do roll call, so…" Mrs. Dawson replies back and grabs her clipcard and starts reading off the names.

"Jackie Mendoza? Did I say that right?"

"Yeah. You did. Here!" Jackie raised her hand in the air and continued putting on pink lipgloss.

"Kehlani and Kody Albright?"

"HERE!" Both of the twins replied and raised their hands.

"Jane Robinson?" Mrs. Dawson said out loud.

"Present!" She replied.

After a little while, there was a boy who would jokingly answer to almost every call-out, Mrs. Dawson gave him a dirty look and the kids looked very annoyed. Then Mrs. Dawson called on Luan's name, she simply said "here" with no enthusiasm in her voice. Mrs. Dawson was on the last name…

"Benjamin John?" But there was no answer. Crickets could be heard around the room. Everyone seemed concerned about Benny running late, he was normally the first or second student to arrive in the auditorium.

Mrs. Dawson called out his name a second time just to be on the safe side, only to receive no answer.

"Well, this is certainly out of character for Benjamin," Mrs. Dawson remarked. "He's normally very punctual when it comes to attending class."

Luan sat silently and stared off into space. She couldn't help but feel a little frustrated and disappointed. She'd been looking forward to seeing Benny again so much, yet here he was nowhere to be found. A number of scenarios started running through her head, ranging from reasonable to absurd and outlandish.

"Maybe he was out sick," she thought to herself. "Or maybe he's intentionally absent so that he doesn't have to see me. Did I say or do something that annoyed him last time we spoke?"

Luan shook those negative thoughts out of her head and did her best to return back to reality. Still, there was a part of that just couldn't help but to think about Benny and his whereabouts.

"Jeez… what happened to him?" Kehlani asked. "Why did he yeeted outta there like that?"

"I know, right? I really hope he's okay." Luan replied while still looking very worried about him.

"He'll be fine. Don't worry." Kehlani said.

The whole class was murmuring about Benny's disappearance until Mrs. Dawson clapped her hands from the distraction.

"Alright, everyone. Mrs. Bernado didn't assign me to anything, so, keep yourself occupied until the bell rings." Mrs. Dawson said.

Most of the students pulled out their electronics and some talked to their friends. Meanwhile, Luan had excused herself to take a private chat. She grabbed her phone, got up from the seat, went on stage behind the curtains and begun to call. The phone was still ringing, leaving the girl more anxious than usual. As she was about to hang up, a person had answered. The speaker had a low-pitched voice but it was mixed in with a squeaky tone as well. Luan was a bit bewildered.

"Huh? Who is this? Can I talk to Benny?" She asked.

The speaker cleared his throat and said- "I am Benny. You probably didn't recognize my voice 'cause I had woken up from a long nap."

"Obviously. I'm happy to hear you're okay, I have been worrying about you all morning. Why haven't you shown up for school yet?" Luan replied.

Benny sighed, "I'm in the car. Driving to Indiana to stay with my cousin while my parents are out of town." In response, Luan's eyes widened and her blood started to boil.

"You're what?! How come you didn't let me know yesterday. "I was worried sick about you!"

"Luan... I-I-I-I didn't know I was gonna stay at my cousin's home at first! My parents told me after I came back from your house..."

"But still. You should've called me last night instead of doing it at the last minute."

"Are we really gonna get into this? It's way too early in the morning!" Benny raised his voice.

"Anyways, why couldn't your folks just let you stay with me and my family instead of going to another state!"

"That's none of your business!"

Luan was quite taken aback by her boyfriend's harsh reaction that she couldn't think straight.

"I'm so pissed off at you. I don't think I should say another word to you." Luan replied back.

"Good." Her not-so-happy boyfriend says as he immediately hangs up on her, making her more upset about the situation.

She couldn't believe that she got into a small argument with Benny and hung up on her like that. She began to sob quietly and walked off the stage. "Why did he tell me at the last minute?" She thought.

"What's wrong?" Kehlani said as she looked quite concerned, the former looked at her with despair and replied with, "Nothing. Don't worry about it." Kehani started to ask her questions like, "what happened?" etc

"You can tell me, Luan. I'll understand." She said as she held her hand.

"It has nothing to do with you. Could you give me a few minutes to calm down?"

"Uh… sure." Kehlani says as she gets up from the seat and walks away from the scene.

One hour later, the bell rang, signifying the end of first period. Like racehorses at the sound of the starting pistol, the kids ran out of their classes in droves, making their way towards their next period. It wasn't long before the halls were crowded with students, all intent on making it to their next class without being marked tardy. As for Luan, she had home room after this period, but following the argument with Benny, was rather demotivated and didn't feel the need to rush there. She was at a snail's pace. When she got into the classroom, kids were staring at her. Luan looked in utter confusion and thought, "Why are they staring at me?" Then the teacher turned around and saw the girl.

"Young miss?" The teacher questioned in a pleasant voice.

"Yes?" Luan replies back.

"I am fully aware you are in the wrong in the classroom." The teacher said. Luan looked around at the students and the teacher. Realization hit her like a ton of bricks.

"Oh no. I'm in the wrong class! I'm so sorry." Luan says as she freaks out. Before she knew it, the whole class breaks out in laughter and pointing at her. Her face burned with total embarrassment, rushed out of the classroom immediately.

Luan walked down to her actual classroom, when she arrived there, the teacher was already teaching a subject to the rest of the students. Flopped down at her desk and pulled out a textbook. She tried to distract herself from thinking about what happened. Another thing came into her head but it was positive thought, "Spring break." She smiled. Tomorrow, which is Friday, was the last day of school for a little while, everyone has been looking toward to spend their 2 weeks off from a day of learning. Luan did not know how to spend her week off yet. Anyway, the teacher rambled on educating the students about Geometry shapes.

"Will anyone else answer these quadrants written on the blackboard?" The math teacher questioned but no one answered. Instead, there was a sound of crickets chirping, the sound of bubblegum popping, students whistling and taking their phones out of the bookbags."Can someone at least answer?"

Again, silence. Until the teacher walked towards his desk and hit a big dictionary against the metal desk, so the students could pay attention. Cleared his throat and said: "If you aren't going to work on your do-now and continue to horseplay, I'm afraid to give you all DETENTION after school!

The students heard the word "detention" and rapidly grabbed their Mathematics textbooks, pencils and begin working on a Geometry worksheet. Luan stopped her daydreaming, she focused on her work to get her mind off of what happened this morning and still also was thinking about her Spring Break plans. The teacher walked around the classroom to see if anyone else was doing what they were told to be doing.

"If you children behave yourselves and do the work, I will bring in treats tomorrow." The teacher said as he walked back to the blackboard and wrote some equations.

Naturally, the students became excited at the mention of treats and began chatting amongst each other. They speculated as to what type of treat the teacher would bring.

"Maybe he'll bring us chocolate chip cookies" One student proposed.

"Or maybe it'll be cupcakes!" Said another.

"You know, things are starting to heat up with the changing of the seasons so maybe ice pops is what he has in mind."

The teacher chuckled before calming down the situation, saying "Settle down, students, settle down. You'll find out what the treat is soon enough, but for right now I want it to be a surprise."

The mention of treats brought the thought of her dad's delicious desserts into Luan's mind. In her opinion, nothing could measure up to her dad's cooking. Luan was quickly snapped back to reality when the teacher said:

"Alright students, as you know spring break is approaching and I am curious as to what your plans are for the break."

"I don't know about you, but my wife and I are planning a getaway to Hawaii for the week," The teacher said.

"You can afford that on a teacher's salary?" One student joked, prompting laughter from the classroom.

"Well, maybe my wife is the one financing most of the trip," The teacher played along. "But I'm serious, how do all of you plan to spend your spring break?"

Afterwards, Luan finally gets an idea how to spend her spring break. As she thought about it, she grinned and blushed but hopes she can convince her parents to do this. The teacher noticed the girl smiling and called on her.

"Luan? What's making you smile all of a sudden and what are you going to do while on break?" The teacher questioned.

"Oh! Uhhh, nothing?" She says. She didn't want anyone to know about her plan. "Well… I'm going to um, it's personal, Mr. Ferguson."

"Ohhh, alright. I hope you have a great time there." Mr. Ferguson replies. In response, Luan nods back.

In a bid to pass the time, the class chatted with each other about their plans for spring break. Some of them were going on vacations to sunny beaches and resorts. Others were visiting family members they hadn't seen in ages. A few had no plans for spring break aside from taking advantage of the lack of school to stay at home and sleep in. One thing was for certain though, everyone planned on making the most out of their holiday. The conversation about their plans lasted until the bell rang, bringing math to a close and dismissing the students to their next period.

Much, much later…

The scene fades to black and then we see a cafeteria, which was very loud, full of high students eating lunch, talking with their friends, playing on their phones, going into lunch lines etc. Anyways, Luan is seen walking to lunch with Leni. She vented her problems to the second-eldest sister, whom understood.

"Me and Benny got into a small argument earlier this morning."

"He's flying to another state to stay with his family and he didn't even tell me about it!" She said while she still quite sad. "And he hung up on me…"

"I'm sorry to hear that, Luan." Leni replied. "Did you guys, like, break up after?"

"What? No!" A confused Luan responded to the comment. "We just didn't talk it out without yelling at each other but I have a plan."

"Oh. So, what's the plan?" Leni asked while looking curious. Luan checked if anyone was in sight, there wasn't and then whispered into Leni's ear.

"That's nice! Anyways, boys can be so annoying sometimes.I had to deal with, like, two of them before. One used me for popularity and I rather totes not go back to that time." Leni said with a grimace.

"Oooh, I remember too. But seriously, I need to get Benny off of my mind. His chocolate curled brown hair, beautiful big brown eyes and-" Luan replies but as soon she could say another word, someone talked over her.

"How about I take you to the mall after school?! Me and you haven't spent that much time together lately. Plus, I've been feeling pretty lonely ever since Lori left to go to university in Great Lakes City." The latter said as she sadly sighed.

Luan knew how Leni had felt, the Loud House was not the same without Lori. You wouldn't get to hear her voice when she agreed to take you wherever you wanted, or when she declared sibling meetings or when she would play some video games with you, go to her golf tournaments and cheer her on, helped you out with something but… no. Lori had just left for college in February. Saying goodbye to her was the hardest thing the rest of the Louds ever did.

Back to the point, Luan and Leni entered the school cafeteria, got their lunches and sat down with Chaz, Miguel, Fiona, Jackie and Mandee.

"Hi, Chazzy!" Leni said simultaneously she kissed her boyfriend on the cheek. "Hey girls!" She waved her at them with a big smile.

"Hey," Fiona and Jackie replied in a dull tone. Both sounded uninterested in being there with their voices having an apathetic "whatever/don't care" edge to them. Mandee on the other hand, was drinking her pumpkin spice latte while being on her phone but she looked up at Leni and Luan.

"Hello, Leni! Who is that next to you? I dig her sense of style." Mandee said.

"That's my younger sister, Luan. Well, one of my younger sisters, anyway. Mandee meet Luan, Luan meet Mandee." Leni introduced the two characters to each other.

"Nice to meet you," Mandee greeted Luan. "As I said, I really dig your style."

"Thanks," Luan said, her cheeks flushing red slightly.

"So what're you guys talking about?" Chaz asked.

"Oh, I was just talking to Luan about taking her to the mall after school to help her get over-," Leni said before Luan gently nudged her in the ribs to keep her from saying too much.

"Oh, you guys are going to the mall?" Jackie asked. "Think that we can tag along?"

Leni beamed at the thought of having her friends accompany her, but remembered that her sister needed her at this time.

"I'm sorry," Leni apologized. "But Luan's had a really rough day today and I thought it would be best if we spent some sister bonding time together."

"No, no, it's totally cool," Jackie said. "We totally get it."

"You do?" Leni asked.

"Yeah," Jackie replied. "After all, I have a little brother to take care of."

"I just hope you guys don't get caught up in the afternoon rush." Fiona said. "I hear that everyone and their mom is going to be there"

"Really?" Leni asked.

"Yeah," Jackie said. "Something about final preparations for spring break or something."

"I don't know, Leni," Luan said. "Maybe we should just reconsider and go some other time."

The fact that she didn't tell a joke or make a pun like she normally would have was a huge indicator to Leni as to just how upset she was and Leni was not about to let the events of today weigh on her mind.

"No way!" Leni said. "I promised that I was going to help you so that's what I'm going to do." Luan just nodded her head in response.

"This cheeseburger is so good. The naturally cooked meat and the melting cheese…" Fiona said as she bite into a burger.

"Okay?" Jackie replies, then turns to the others and continued talking. "It was so weird to see Benny not turn up for first period. He was always the very first person to show up even before the teacher does!"

Luan winced at the mention of Benny, something that Jackie noticed right away.

"Are you okay?" Jackie asked.

"Y-Yeah, I'm fine," Luan lied as the memory from earlier this morning flooded back into her head. "It's just...could you maybe not mention Benny right now?"

"Um… sure, okay," Jackie agreed.

Lunch wrapped up shortly afterwards and Luan reported to her next class. There were still a couple of hours left in the school day and Luan was hoping that they'd speed by in a flash. No such luck as instead the opposite seemed to happen with the hours dragging and time slowing to a crawl. Finally and mercifully, the final bell of the day rang, bringing about the end of another school day.

Shortly after school dismissed for the day, Leni fulfilled her promise to Luan to take her to the Royal Woods Mall. During the ride there, Luan couldn't help but to gaze off into the distance. The argument with Benny was still fresh in her mind, with a thousand different scenarios playing out in Luan's head about how she could've handled things differently. There was also a sense of paranoia in her thoughts as she wondered whether Benny would possibly break up with her over the argument. Luan definitely didn't want that scenario to play out, but couldn't help but to worry, causing a single tear to fall from her eye.

Leni noticed this and gently grabbed a hold of Luan's hand as if to tell her that everything was going to be alright. When the sisters arrived at the mall, they found it crowded beyond belief, even more crowded than it normally was in the evening.

Luan chalked it up to kids doing their last minute shopping before spring break officially began. Leni wasn't going to let the abundance of people stop her from cheering up her sister and grabbing Luan by the hand, pulled her into a clothing shop to look for a new blouse.

Luan didn't exactly know what she was looking for, just that she wanted to change up her appearance somewhat. Maybe she could switch to wearing a tank top instead of the blouse and skirt she was known for. Perhaps she could ditch the flower that was her signature.

"How do you think I look in this?" Luan asked, trying on a yellow and white T-shirt with a pair of shorts.

"You look cute," Leni said.

"You think so?" Luan asked.

"Yeah," Leni said. "Like, if I were you, I'd be careful. You mind end up catching the attention of other boys."

Luan laughed and said "As if. Benny would literally-,"

"Are you okay?" Leni asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Luan said, blinking and shaking her head before moving on to try something else. Luan ended up changing into an oversized tye dye T-shirt, purple shorts and a pair of sneakers that were sky blue and white. She even ended up letting her hang down.

"What about now?"

"You kinda look like a VSCO girl," Leni laughed.

"You wouldn't happen to have seen my hydroflask, would you?" Luan joked, prompting both sisters to laugh.

Despite the hiccup earlier, soon enough Benny had completely slipped from Luan's mind.

The argument was little more than a distant memory. Needless to say that Leni's mission was a success.

As they wrapped up the shopping, Leni noticed a small, cute, yellow beagle standing its hind legs at a pet store window. She ran up to it and called out to her younger sister's attention. Leni glazed into the dog's sparkly eyes.

"Doesn't he look like the dog from that comic strip?"

"What comic?" Luan replied with confusion.

"The one with the weird guy and fat cat. I have forgotten the dog's name but I'm pretty sure it's, like, 'Oldie'. Leni responses back while thinking.

"Don't you mean Odie? And the comic strip's name is 'Garfield'." Luan corrects her.

"Oh, yeah..." Leni replies. "Isn't he the cutest?!"

"I wouldn't say he's the cutest, but doggone is he adorable!" Luan does her signature laugh. "Get it?" In response, the former does a groan.

"Okay, I have some money left over so I'm gonna get some smoothies from the food court. Want kind do you want?" Leni said.

"Banana smoothie, I guess." Luan answers back.

"Alright. Please stay right there." Leni says as she walks away to the food court, leaving Luan alone.

Luan nodded her head and patiently waited for Leni. She watched as shoppers walked past her, bags of merchandise in their hands as they talked to each other. One thing that immediately stood out to her was the presence of multiple couples walking hand in hand. She'd come so close to completely forgetting about Benny only to be reminded of him yet again. She started picturing the couples as her and Benny walking hand in hand. Slowly but surely, Luan started to get bored as she waited for Leni to return. The line at the smoothie bar must've been long if she was taking this long. Deciding that it wouldn't cause too much harm, Luan decided to maybe wander off a little. She wouldn't go far, just outside the food court. She planned on returning before Leni even noticed she was gone.

The girl headed off to the clothing store that her and her sister went to shop not so long ago. She browsed through the teenage-girl clothing section. T-Shirts with witty sayings, cartoon characters, celebrities, animal print and sparkles, tie-dyed sweaters, bedazzled, ripped, floral printed jeans. By the checkout aisle, there was some lucky charm necklaces, gold jeweled earrings, scrunchies in different varieties. There was a blue, pink, white, yellow, purple, green and all of the colors you could imagine. There was sneakers as well. Slides, Converse, Nikes, Vans and much more. Of course, there was even hydro flasks on the white shelf. She rolled her eyes and moved on.

Went back to the clothing section and checked out some sport bras and normal bras. There was bras with red hearts on them and different patterns. Luan stared right at her chest and sighed sadly. Suddenly, two middle school-aged girls leered at Luan, giggling and whispering.

"What's the point of getting a bra if you don't have any boobs?" One girl said as she pointed at Luan.

"Yeah!" Said another. "She could always just stuff it with tissue to hide what she's lacking," the other girl taunted.

Luan turned around and heard the girls laughing and talking about her. She ignored it and promptly walked out of the store before anything else would happen there. She walked back to the water fountain and waited for Leni to return.

A few seconds later, Leni is seen with two smoothies in her hands, rushing to Luan.

"O-M-Gosh! I'm sorry for making you wait so long, The line has been absolutely crowded for the past 20-30 minutes." a nervous Leni said as she given Luan her smoothie. "Oh and by the way, they were out of bananas so I got strawberry instead."

"Thanks, Leni. Can we please go home now? I'm too tired and had a rough day." Luan hugs her sister and sips her strawberry smoothie.

"Of course!" Leni replies with a small smile on her face. They grabbed their shopping bags and headed out of the mall.

The girls left the mall and patiently waited for their mother to come pick them up. Although she felt better than had before, today had still been a rough day for Luan. She honestly wanted nothing more than to crawl into bed and sleep. Maybe tomorrow would be better for her.

She was thankful for Leni taking the time to try cheering her up. Though she could be a ditz sometimes, the blond fashionista still had a heart of gold. Luan took a moment to take another sip of her strawberry smoothie. It was something small, but it helped ease what she was feeling at the moment. The girls only had to wait for about 15 minutes before Rita arrived in Vanzilla to pick them up.

"Hey girls!" Rita greeted them with a friendly wave. "How'd the shopping go?"

"Oh, it was great," Leni said as she and Luan loaded their bags into the car. "Luan and I found like, the cutest clothes you've ever seen! And I found the most adorable shoes that just fit me so well!"

"That's great, honey," Rita said before asking Luan. "What about you, sweetie? Did you find anything that suits your fancy?"

"Eh, I found a few new outfits I thought were cool," Luan muttered.

"Are you alright?" Rita asked. "Sounds to me like you didn't have a good time."

"Oh, I'm fine," Luan lied. "Today's Just been a handful is all and I can't put my finger on why that is! HAHAHA! Get it?"

She made it a point to intentionally leave out the part about the happy couples as well as the part with the middle school girls.

Rita chuckled and said "I understand. Well, I'm glad the two of you had fun."

"Like, we should really do this some other time," Leni said to Luan.

"I'd be up for it," Luan said, a small smile starting to form on her face.

"Well, with Spring Break having started, you two have all week to get out more," Rita told them.

"Yeah." responded Luan.

Once both girls had settled in and gotten buckled up, Rita slowly pulled out of the mall's parking lot. By this time, night had fallen and the sky was nearly pitch black, save for the constellation of stars in the sky and moonlight that shined brightly on Royal Woods. It was a beautiful sight to see, with Leni and Luan both taking a moment to gawk at the sight as they headed home.

When they reached the location, the sisters and Rita got out of Vanzilla, grabbed the shopping bags & the drinks and went into the house. As they walked in, the lights were shut off and it was quiet.

"Did, like, the power went out again?" Leni questioned.

"I don't think so. I mean, it is pretty late.." Rita responses. "So you two head off to bed now."

"Okay. Goodnight, mom!" Leni said while Luan hugs their mother.

As the girls head upstairs to their room, Leni turned to Luan and asked "So, did our little outing help you feel better? Are you going to be alright?"

"I'll be alright," Luan said, nodding her head. "And thanks for taking me out, it was fun."

"Any time, little sis, any time," Leni said before the two went their separate ways and head to their respective rooms.

Luan was careful to be as quiet as possible as she entered her and Luna's room, not wanting to wake up the latter. She didn't utter a peep as she changed into her pajamas and crawled into bed, eager to move on to tomorrow. Today had taken a great toll on her and while it wasn't completely bad, it still left her feeling rather blue. From the situation with Benny to the daydreaming during class to the taunting middle schoolers at the mall, it seemed today just wasn't meant to be good to her.

"Maybe tomorrow will be better," Luan whispered, letting out a sigh as she rested her head on her pillow and waited for Mr. Sandman to take her to never never land.

It took some time and she had to do her best to clear her mind, but slowly Luan was pulled into a peaceful slumber. Despite everything that had happened, she couldn't help but feel that things were on the cusp of looking up. That thought brought her some comfort as she smiled and drifted off into sleep.


	2. shopping for doggone trouble

The sight of the glorious sun rising accompanied by the sound of a rooster crowing signifies a new morning. The chirping of birds rings out throughout the neighborhood as denizens open their doors to take in the fresh air. A fresh coat of dew has formed on their lawns, leaving the grass soft and wet. All these things combined point to your typical beautiful morning that is like no other. Luan was still in her bed sleeping, tossing, turning and flipping her pillow on the other side, so she can get the cold part. Despite being around the Springtime, it would get very humid at the middle of the night. Anyway, the brunette girl continued to drift off to her slumber but an loud annoying sound was heard causing her to topple over her bed.

"Sh*t!" Luan grumbles quietly to herself. She grabs her phone from the charger, puts her alarm for another 5 minutes and fell back asleep.

The 5 minutes went by fast, Luan awoke from her slumber, turned off the alarm and dashed to the bathroom to get ready. Brushed her teeth, rubbed face cream on and washed it off. As she was brushing her long, brown hair, a pound on the door was heard.

"Luan! Come out of there! I need to use the bathroom!" a cranky Lincoln said while doing the 'pee-pee' dance.

Then Lana walks by with a rusted metal bucket in her hand and says: "Hey, Linc. You're always welcome to do number 1 in the bucket. Make sure no one sees you."

"Ew! No!" Lincoln replies back and pounds the door even harder. "Get out!"

"Ugh! Fine." Luan groans before marching out of the bathroom and to her bedroom, slamming the door behind her as she did so.

She starts going through her new clothes that she gotten from the mall last night. Five new shirts, including a tie-dye sweater and three pairs of pants. Two of them were boyfriend jeans and one was black jeggings. She didn't know what to go with.

Once Luan was finished getting dressed, she took a moment to take a look at herself in the mirror. While she had been a little self conscious when she first tried on these clothes, upon second glance, she found that she looked rather cute in this outfit. A smile was starting to tug at her lips as she struck a pose. She was interrupted from her thoughts when she heard her mother calling her name.  
"I'm coming, give me a second!" Luan yelled back before grabbing her backpack & phone and running downstairs.  
As soon as she arrived at school, Luan waded through a sea of students to make her way to her first period. One thing she never enjoyed about high school was how crowded the hallways were with students stopping in the middle of the hall to discuss gossip. Luan simply sighed, trying to brush off her irritation as she continued to first period. Once she arrived at the classroom, she sat down in her usual seat and waited alongside the other students for their teacher to arrive. Some students were even looking at their watches, hoping that she wouldn't make it within the 15 minutes following opening bell so that they could wander off. Luan however, had her mind elsewhere, being curious as to what today held in store for her "Hey. Are you feeling better?" Jackie asked.  
"Yeah, I am. Me and Leni had a great time at the mall last night. We got tons of new clothes." Luan smiles.  
"Awww, that's good." Jackie said. "I hate to ask this but what's going on with Benny?"  
Luan didn't know how to answer the question so she just stood there quiet but a word came out of her mouth.  
"He's staying in another state with a relative... and he didn't tell me about it."  
"Oh no."  
"Then we got into this argument and he just hang up on me like that."  
"That sucks. I hope you two can make up soon."  
"We will." Luan said. At the same exact moment when the girls were chatting, Mrs. Bernado had came into the auditorium with a positive mindset. She looked happy and healthy.  
"Good morning, class!" She said in a singly-song tone.  
"Morning, Miss Bernado!" The class responded in unison.  
"How are you all doing today?" She asked. "We missed you!" One student spoken. Then the whole room buzzed with chatter with students saying how they had missed their teacher. "I missed all of you, especially you, Luan." Mrs. Bernado said as she smiled at the young girl. In reply, Luan was delighted, it was very obvious that she was the teacher's pet.. Luan quickly noticed the dirty looks she was receiving and quickly shrank back into her seat. Great, this was exactly what she needed, her fellow classmates resenting her for being the teacher's pet. It's not like she wanted to be the center of attention or the teacher's favorite student. It just sort of happened. Luan could already tell that this day was likely going to go just as well as yesterday had gone. Which was to say that it'd be either a complete and utter clusterfuck of disaster that would end with her crying in the bathroom by the time lunch rolled around… or it would end with her crawling into bed and sleeping through the rest of the day as soon as she got home. Either way, Luan didn't like her prospects.  
The lesson today is theatre revolves around improv. As with many things involving the arts, this was something Luan thrived at and she could thank her comedic aspirations for helping her hone her skill in this field. Of course, another person who was just as skilled at improv was her partner, something that served as another bitter reminder that Benny wasn't here. As the Mrs. Bernado called for volunteers, Luan shrank back even further and prayed that she wouldn't call on her. Her day was going bad enough as it was, she didn't wanna further draw her classmates ire on top of everything else. Anyway, Mrs. Bernado had noticed a slight change in Luan's fashion sense and her change of behavior lately. So she asked about it while being a bit concerned. "So, Luan, I noticed that you've changed up your dress style since last I saw you," Mrs. Bernado observed. "It seems to be much more in line with that of the other students around the school."  
"Yeah, what about it?" Luan replied.  
"Nothing," Mrs. Bernado said. "It's just that I vastly preferred your original style to this new one you're sporting."  
"You did?" Luan asked, looking down at herself.  
"Yes, quite!" Mrs. Bernado answered. "Your old style was so much more, pardon the pun, loud and stood out against the generalized and plainish looking style of other students'! Not to mention that it captured your personality much more than these clothes ever could!"  
"You really think so?" Luan asked.  
"Darling, I know so," Mrs. Bernado answered, leaving Luan unsure on how she should feel about her words. Luan just nodded her head back in response and sat back down.  
With the full day still ahead of her, Luan allows her mind to drift as she wonders about her boyfriend. While her part in this story is far from over, we now shift scenes and enter another world.

Our focus takes us to a large yet tranquil city that is known for its rather noticeable residents. The most famous of these residents was a lasagna loving, Monday hating overweight pussycat. Residing with him were his owner and a small yellow furred dog. By now I think it's clear that the city in question is none other than Muncie, Indiana.

Garfield is seen sitting in a dark-green recliner watching TV, enjoying himself while his owner, Jon Arbuckle was vacuuming the carpet and cleaning the house. Odie on the other hand, was gnawing at a juicy bone from a beef rib Jon cooked last night for dinner.

"Jon, why are you vacuuming up the house at 7:50 in the morning?" Garfield asked. "I'm trying to watch Kung Fu Creatures On The Rampage 5."

"Sorry, Garfield. A special guest is coming to stay with us for a while and I want them to feel at home." Jon responds as he turns off the vacuum. Odie had stopped gnawing at his bone for a second.

"Special guest?" Garfield repeated Jon's words with fear and jumped up. "Is it Nermal? Is it Drusilla and Minerva? Aunt Ivy? Or all of them?!"

Odie whimpered and cried out, "No! No!"

"All hell is gonna break loo-" Garfield says as he panics even more about the situation.

"Stop being drama queens, you two and it's not them." Jon replies.

"Thank god. Who is it then?" Garfield questioned. "Do they know about to make a triple layered lasagna with 5 kinds of cheese? If so, I would marry them."

"That wouldn't work." Odie responded as he resumed to gnaw at the bone.

"Typical Odie. You obviously don't understand sarcasm, don't you?" Garfield rolled his eyes in annoyance.

"Anyways, you know my cousin, Marian?" Jon asked.

"Yeah, how could we forget? The woman that me and Odie thought you were gonna get married to. It was nearly 30 years ago and somehow nothing has changed since then." Garfield replied.

"Her son Benny is flying all away from Royal Woods, Michigan to Muncie! Marian and her husband have been super busy and awfully traveling a lot so they couldn't look after him and gave me the responsibility to take care of him." Jon continued talking.

"Cousin Benny? I haven't heard that name in… years!" Garfield says as he tries to remember.

Then out of the blue, he gets a clear reminiscence of Benny. It was during the Christmas season. A New Year Eve's party at Jon's house, the adults were chatting, most of the Arbuckle children were playing games and watching cartoons except for little 4-year-old Benny who was playing roughly on Garfield. The little boy was trying to snuggle and play with the cat but of course, Garfield tried to pull him away from doing so. Odie gotten jealous of him because it looked like he was having fun with the child. Garfield yelled help to make his parents or anyone else to stop Benny before he hurts the orange cat. After the remembrance, Garfield snapped back to reality.

"You brought back one of my worst memories I'd rather forget."

"Oh... but don't worry, Benny has completely changed for his own sake." Jon said. "And by the way, I'm supposed to pick him up from the airport in an hour or two. Does anyone want to come along?" In response, Odie yips with excitement and Garfield replies with "I guess so."

Well, alrighty then! I'll be in my office in case your cravings for lasagna ever come up again; here's hoping they don't," Jon quipped with a wink as he strode his way upstairs, only the sound of his footsteps creating ambiance in the house with Garfield and Odie beside themselves.

"Now, Odie. Leave me alone while I continue watching Kung-Fu Creatures." Garfield says as he tries to shoo Odie away. The dog runs outside and comes back in with a tree stick in his slobbery mouth.

"Oh, you want me to throw the stick so you can fetch it?" Garfield said in a repetitious tone.

"Yeah! Yeah!" Odie responds.

""Nah. I don't really feel like it."

Odie takes offense to Garfield's remark, but is determined to get his way. Thus, he looks at the fat cat and breaks out the dreaded puppy dog eyes. Of course, this would work better if it were anyone other than Garfield so naturally it failed. When Garfield still refused to play along, Odie resorts to whimpering, hoping to wear the latter down. This time, his ploy works like a charm.

"Alright, fine!" Garfield relents before tossing the stick outside. Odie barked happily and ran outside. The fat cat locked the door, slammed it right behind him and went back on the couch.

"Finally. Some peace and quiet." He whispered to himself and continued watching the movie.

Without Odie around to bug him, Garfield was free to watch the movie as he pleased. Of course, that also meant that he was free to laze around as he wished. By the time the movie he'd been so insistent on watching had reached its halfway point, Garfield had reached his breaking point and fallen asleep. It was an intense and peaceful slumber for the orange cat, being filled with dreams of him and Arlene's perfect wedding.

Fitting with his nature, that wedding entailed many of his favorite foods such as lasagna (obviously), pizza (lacking anchovies of course), BBQ sauce covered steak and hot dogs. It was enough to make Garfield salivate at the mouth, but he wouldn't be able to enjoy his movie for very long before he was awoken by a loud scream.

"WHERE! IS! ODIE?!" Jon yells angrily.

"What the hell, Jon?" Garfield answered back, Jon's screaming having caused him to leap straight up into the air and cling to the ceiling. "Do I interrupt your quiet relaxing time with dumb questions?"

It was only then that Garfield noticed he was ignoring gravity by clinging to the ceiling and subsequently crashing onto the floor.

"Ouch," Garfield grumbled. "Seriously Jon, what's your deal?"

"I want to know where Odie is... Now." Jon said sternly.

"Well." Garfield says as he gets up from the ground. "I don't know and I don't care."

"What do you mean by 'I don't know'? He was right there in the living room an hour ago! Were you even watching him!?" Jon questioned.

"No but I was watching Kung Fu Creatures On The Rampage 5 but Odie asked me to fetch a stick so he could catch it. Basically after he went outside, I slammed the door right behind me and locked him out." Garfield replies, making Jon more even more mad.

"Why would you do that!?" Jon yelled. "You know that Odie gets distracted easily! What if he ran off somewhere?"

"Relax, Jon, it's not that big a deal," Garfield replied. "I'm sure he's just fine."

"That's not the point," Jon said, calming down considerably. "Do you ever think before you do these type of things?"

"Sometimes. But-"

Jon's phone vibrates, Jon looks at it and continues talking. "I just got a text from Benny. You better find Odie before I come back or else you're grounded for the whole month of April. Got it?" Jon demands.

Jon gives Garfield a look that is a combination of anger and disappointment. Garfield is used to seeing the look, but this time around actually takes it seriously. Being grounded for the month of April means no lasagna and he couldn't have that. Thus, he resolved to find Odie before Jon returned as the latter walked out of the house.

When Jon's car drove off the driveway, Garfield charged right out of the house for the search. He looked in the backyard, no sign of Odie in the shed, no sign of him in the bushes and no sign of him in the garage cans. Then he began to search all throughout the city. Residents have not seen a yellow-furred beagle wandering around.

Odie?" Garfield cries out as he wanders around the city. "Odie, where are you?" When he continued to get no response, he starts to grow worried. "Come on, Odie, this isn't funny!"

"Where on Earth could be be?" Garfield thought to himself as he tirelessly looked up and down throughout Muncie.

Dark thoughts started to creep into his mind about the fate that could've befell the small dog, causing him to worry. And unlike previously where he was more concerned about being grounded, this was a more genuine form of worry. A pang of guilt creeped into Garfield's heart as he realized just how selfish he had been with what he'd done to one of his best friends.

"Please, please, please let me find him."

As he continued walking through the city, a certain newscast caught Garfield's attention.

"Authorities say that the dog in question was chasing after a squirrel when he was struck and killed by an oncoming car…" A news anchor reported.

"What?" Garfield questioned. "No, please don't tell me."

"Right now authorities are trying to find the dog's owner to notify them of the loss."

That was all it took for the dam to break and Garfield to burst into tears.

"No!" He sobbed. "Odie, I'm so sorry! I didn't mean for this to happen!"

For now, that is where we leave things. However, don't believe everything that you read as this story is far from over. You'll soon learn that looks can be deceiving, but for now we'll return to the city of Royal Woods to take a look at what's going on there.

Luan was living in her fantasies again. Thinking about Benny once again and counting down the seconds until spring break arrived. The comedienne felt that the holiday couldn't come quickly enough. School was starting to stress her out and without her fellow jester there to help her brave the storm, she felt truly lost. She still hadn't talked to Benny since their argument, but she hoped he was alright. She also hoped that he wasn't still mad at her. That he didn't want to break up with her. If he did that, it would automatically make this week the worst one of her life. While she was in her own head, meandering in the hallway, she accidentally ran into someone.

"Watch it, girl!" said an older-looking teen as she grabbed Luan and shoved her to the side.

"H-hey!" Luan yelped, trying to regain her balance. She made as if it never occurred and continued walking to her next period class.

Second period was chemistry class on the third floor of the building. Luan ambled into the classroom, seeing other students getting settled down for their session. She spotted her friend, Maggie sitting down, on her phone.

"Hey Maggie!" said Luan, forcing a smile.

"Hi?" Maggie responded as she looked up from her phone.

Although Luan was smiling, Maggie could sense something off about her.

"Um, Loud, is something wrong? You're normally not like this…"

"No. I'm fine. Don't worry about me, Maggie."

"There is something wrong with you. What is it?"

Luan bit her lip and didn't say another word. Then she whispered into Maggie's ear.

"Benny? What about him?"

"We got into this… argument!" Luan said, she couldn't even say the word without thinking about it. "He never told me he was going to stay with a relative in another state…" She sighed of sadness.

"Oh… that sucks." Maggie looked genuinely surprised and upset. "But hey, today's the last day of school for a while!"

"Yeah," Luan answered before she was about to wail. "I still can't get over it, you know… me and Benny never fought until now."

"You're going to get over it sometime. Hate to be like that but it's sorta true."

Luan stared at Maggie with sadness in her eyes. Next, the science teacher began the lesson.

"I want everyone to take out their science notebooks and turn to page four-hundred and twenty seven to learn about electrons."

The scene fades from Royal Woods High School as we return to the city of Muncie. We find Jon enjoying the sensation of a nice warm and relaxing springtime breeze as he drives to the airport. The reason for this trip is to meet with a family member he hasn't seen in what felt like ages.

The young man can hardly contain his anticipation and excitement as he draws closer to the airport. Once he arrived at the airport, he finds a parking space and patiently waits for his cousin's airplane to touch down. He already has so many things planned concerning what to do when he sees him again.

He had dropped off to sleep until he was snapped awake by someone knocking on his car window.

"Cousin Jon?" A voice said.

Jon took a quick glance at the window and his face lit with anticipation.

"Cousin Benny?!"

He hopped out of his car and hugged Benny tightly. They finally reunited after 7-8 years since they last seen each other.. From out of the all Arbuckle relatives, him and Benny were the closest. Jon was always overprotective over his little cousin. The latter was given a nickname due to the strong resemblance between the two, "Lil Jon". And people would sometimes mistaken Benny as Jon's son.

"How was the flight, little fella?" Jon asked.

"It was fine until… I got into a disagreement with my girlfriend and-" Benny replies whist looking quite a bit sad now.

"Wait, You didn't tell me you had a girlfriend. Did you?" Jon interrupts.

"Well." Benny blushes. "She's a beautiful brunette from Royal Woods. She's the light of my life, tells the funniest jokes and has ten siblings."

"Oh? Ten siblings?" Jon questions.

"Yeah, ten," Benny says before laughing and saying, "It's kinda fitting that her last name is Loud. Her name is Luan Loud."

"Wow. That's a lot of siblings. I don't even imagine myself having that many brothers and sisters. Thank goodness I only have Doc Boy as my only sibling." Jon replies back. "Luan seems like a nice girl, I would like to meet her someday."

"You will, I hope. By the way, could you help me with my suitcases? One's filled with shoes and clothes, the other one's filled with my games and junk." Benny said as he struggles to put down a suitcase in the trunk.

"Of course." Jon responds while he helps Benny with his bags. "It's going to be so much fun having you here!"

Meanwhile with Garfield...

As the orange cat cried over the apparent death of his friend, he heard a gruff voice call out to him.

"Hey, what are you crying about?" Asked an alley cat.

"What do you think?" Garfield retorted. "My idiot dog friend just died! Why wouldn't I be crying?"

"You doltz, that dog on the news wasn't your friend," the alley cat told him. "Take a closer look"

Garfield looked back at the TV screen and saw that the dog that'd been run over was a brown Labrador in contrast to the cream colored Odie.

"But if that wasn't Odie, then…" Garfield started to question.

"Your friend was mistaken for a stray," The alley cat informed him. "You've gotta be careful around these parts. The city likes to round up strays and ferals! They even came after me once! Fortunately I was able to get away."

"Do you know where they take those strays?" Garfield asked.

"To the animal shelter," The alley cat said. "But don't think that break in' your friend out will be an easy task. That place is locked down tight."

Garfield thinks of a plan, snickers and bolts off to the Muncie Animal Shelter to save the yellow-furred pooch.

It didn't take long for Garfield to sniff out the animal center. To be fair to him, finding the place wasn't an issue, it was breaking in that was the problem. The center was gated with a chain link fence. Garfield counted himself luck that there was no razor wire at the top. Now all that was left was finding a way inside so he could rescue Odie.

It was through a conspicuously open window that Garfield was able to infiltrate the shelter. After receiving the news from the alley cat, Garfield quickly made his way to the animal shelter to rescue his canine pal. Much to Garfield's welcome surprise, the place wasn't as heavily guarded as he expected it to be. The fat cat had been expecting barbed wire fences and armed guards at the doors, but instead the only measure of security the place had was a simple chain link fence that was quite easy for Garfield to climb over.

After making his way inside came the task of locating where Odie was being held. At first, that seemed like it would be a gargantuan task given how large the facility was. Luckily for Garfield, he was able to adapt quickly and find a map detailing the layout of the building. Even more fortunate was the fact that he was rather close to the hall containing the dog pound.

Reaching the main hall without being seen or detected by the employees proved to be the most difficult task so far as the shelter was crawling with handlers and veterinarians who could easily scoop Garfield up and label him as a stray cat. It was a good thing that Garfield had a talent for sneaking around and remaining undetected. For that reason, it only took Garfield a couple of minutes before he came across the stray dog pound part of the shelter.

"That dog better be thankful for this," Garfield said to himself, hearing barking on the other side of the door.

Garfield slowly opened the door and peeked inside where he saw dozens of dogs being held in cages. As he expected, these dogs were largely of the same intelligence level as Odie, which was to say they were rather dim.

"Psst, Odie? Odie!" Garfield whispered, keeping an ear out for the dog.

As he continued to search, a tiny, high-pitched, vulnerable cry boomed across the facility. It caused Garfield to be a little frightened by the sound. So he went off after the squall's path.

When the fat cat got closer and closer, he saw something that absolutely shocked and appalled him. As he expected the whimpering dog had been none other than Odie himself. Odie was locked in a big metal dog cage that resided on the third shelf while an apathetic dog catcher sat around texting on his phone while "keeping watch" over the animals in the room.

"Oh, will you shut up, you stupid mutt!" The dog catcher barked, shoveling a fistful of potato chips into his mouth as he sat in his chair.

"Wow, I can't believe this," Garfield thought to himself. "How can these people go this far? I mean, I like torturing Odie too but I wouldn't go to those lengths."

Garfield had to think of a way to bust out his buddy and fast. It didn't take long for a plan to formulate in his head. With the apathetic dog catcher paying no attention, Garfield could easily release one or two of the other stray dogs as a distraction while he busted out Odie.

The dog catcher had thrown the whole bag of empty potato chips at Odie which caused him to get bitter, he began growling and barking at the man. The dog begun to bang on the locks with his paw.

"Take a chill pill, doggie. You shouldn't be makin' all of that rukus at 11 in the morning." The dog catcher replied with a rude remark.

Odie gotten even more angier with the dog catcher and chomped his finger affected the man to scream in agony.

"SHIT! SHIT! SHIT!" He screamed the words out so loud that almost everyone in the city would hear the commotion. "THE DOG BIT ME! THE DOG BIT ME!" he repeated.

"Jeez." Garfield whispered to himself as he watched the whole scene go down.

"GET OFF OF MY FINGER!" The man continued to scream. "PETE!"

At that exact moment, a young man with an identical uniform scurries to the scene while sweat was dripping down his forehead and stops to see what happened.

"Al! What happened there?!" Pete asked while being tired out.

"This mutt." Al responded with an irritated tone. "That shithead bit my finger." He points to a furious looking Odie.

"Oooh, that's gonna leave a mark but we gotta catch more of 'em strays roaming around Muncie." Pete said. "I just got a call from Mrs. Royal about there's some strays eating her rotten leftover food in the garage cans."

"But what about my bleeding finger?" Al asked.

"It'll dry up soon. But now we gotta do our jobs! Mr. Cannell will give us that big raise this week." Pete demanded as he walked out of the door.

In response, Al groans. When Pete left, he gave the yellow-furred pooch a death stare.

"Goddamn stupid mutt, I'll show you to bite me," He grumbled before opening the cage to seek his revenge. What happened instead was Odie taking advantage of the situation and leaping past him before making a mad dash for the door. "Hey! Get back here you mangy mutt!"

Al quickly moved to try and give chase, but Garfield was waiting from his hiding place and chose this opportunity to strike. He stepped out in front of the dog catcher while the latter was absentmindedly chasing Odie, tripping the man up and causing him to hit his head hard on the ground. The collision knocked the man out cold and allowed Odie the perfect chance to escape with Garfield following close behind.

Neither Garfield or Odie wasted any time getting the hell out of dodge, running as fast as they could until they were far outside the walls of the facility. For Garfield, he had never run so hard in his life and had to stop and catch his breath once they were safe.

"Well… that was… hectic," Garfield huffed, turning to Odie and asking "How the heck did you even get caught in the first place?"

Odie responded with his trademark gibberish that Garfield was somehow able to understand.

"They just up and snatched you like that?" Garfield asked, prompting Odie to nod his head. "Well, I'm sorry I tricked you and locked you out of the house. Speaking of which, let's get back home before Jon does."

Odie yipped in agreement and happily began the voyage to the Arbuckle abode. Garfield followed closely behind, thankful that this mess was finally over.

When the two pets were about to go back into the house, at the exact moment, Jon's vehicle pulled into the driveway. Garfield's head turned and saw Jon and Benny getting out of the car and carrying the suitcases.

"Just in time." Garfield whispered before sighing in relief.

"Hey Garfield! Hey Odie!" Benny called out to the fat cat and waved but failed from doing so as he dropped his luggage. Odie then ran over to the teen and put his hands on him. Benny responded by petting his head.

"Garfield, you're here. Do you mind helping us to carry the suitcases into the house?" Jon asked.

"This better not be free labor." Garfield mumbled to himself.

The four male characters clutched the suitcases and headed into the house. As they got into the house, Jon starts to question the young boy.

"Benny, where will you sleep?" Jon questioned.

"I guess the couch." Benny responded. "I mean, it is the only option."

"You can also sleep in Jon's office. It has a couch as well." Garfield joined the conversation.

"Oh no, I'm fine." Benny says as he walks off to the kitchen to grab something to eat, leaving Garfield, Odie and Jon alone.

"So, where was Odie found?" The young man asked while he sat down on the recliner and kicked off his shoes.

"It's a long story." Garfield answers back.

"All that matters is, you and Odie are both home safe." Jon says.

"Guess so." Garfield repetitively responds. "I'm gonna go play a game on your computer."

As Garfield went upstairs, Jon accompanied his cousin into the kitchen, eager to find out just what Benny had been up to since they'd last seen each other.

"So Benny, how's life been treating you?" Jon asked him.

"Things have been great," Benny said cheerfully. "School's been easygoing, my parents got me a set of mechas I've had my eyes on for a while and my girlfriend and I…"

"Hold on a second, girlfriend?" Jon asked before remembering that Benny had mentioned Luan earlier. "Oh right, that Luan girl correct?"

"Yeah," Benny said as he blushed whilst thinking about her. "In fact, I miss her…"

Jon looked at his cousin with sympathy. Afterwards, he started speaking again and said:

"Speaking of girlfriends, I haven't went on a date with mine since last month," Jon said, reminiscing on his last encounter with Liz.

"You have a girlfriend?" Benny asked.

"Yeah," Jon said, smiling fondly. "Her name is Liz Wilson. On our last date, we went to the carnival."

"Wow. How was it?"

"But it didn't go as planned, I ate too much cotton candy, corn dogs and funnel cake. When me and Liz went on one of the rides, I puked on her by accident and I think a few other people as well."

"Ewww, gross." Benny said, making a grotty face.

"And that's not even getting into our incident with the clown," Jon said.

"What happened with the clown?" Benny asked.

"When I was a kid, a group of clowns scared me with their silly faces and almost made me faint," Jon revealed. "I never got quite over that and when I took Liz to the carnival, I accidentally punched one clown in the face when he snuck up on me. We almost ended up getting kicked out."

"Oof…" Benny said. "No offense Jon, but I don't think you'd be comfortable around my girlfriend Luan."

"Why is that?" Jon asked.

"Because she runs her own clowning business," Benny answered.

"Well I wouldn't punch her in the face," Jon insisted. "I'd probably just jump in fear."

"Oh…" Benny responded.

Meanwhile on the other hand, Garfield was seen in his owner's office playing 'Garfield Kart' with loud music blasted through the speakers. The fat cat's emotions changed for a long period of time whilst playing the online game. He was also on a voice chat alongside with one of his best pals, Arlene and Nermal (well, sometimes.)

"I'm gonna kick your ass, Arlene!" Garfield proclaimed, letting out his signature laugh. "You cut right behind me!"

"I'd like to see you try." The iconic pink haired cat voiced chatted through the microphone, letting out a little laugh as she attained a lead.

"You're on!"

"Be careful that you don't bite off more than you can chew," Arlene taunted. "Oh wait, you do that all the time!"

"Was that supposed to be a fat joke?" Garfield asked.

"It can be whatever you want it to be," Arlene replied.

Before Garfield continued playing the game, he turned around and looked at the viewers with a coy smile.

"Oh, you guys must be wondering what game I am playing. Well, lemme tell you. It's… Garfield Kart! Yeah, someone playing their own game. What a shocker. No, I am not playing as my own character. Instead, I'm playing as Jon because why not?" The fat cat said as he shrugged his shoulders. "I had to beg him to buy this game for me because who wouldn't want to buy a game which is centered around themselves?"

After the orange tabby talked to the viewers, he swung the chair back to the desk and resumed playing with his friends.

Back to Jon and Benny…

"So how long has it been since you said you last had a date with Liz?" Benny asked.

"A month," Jon said.

"Be careful, cousin, can't leave her alone for too long," Benny chuckled, nudging Jon gently in his ribs. "She might get lonely and start looking for someone else to replace you?"

"What about your girlfriend?" Jon asked. "How can you be sure that she won't do the same to you?"

"What!?" Benny replied. "Luan would never do that to me. Just like I could never do that to her. We love each other too much to hurt each other like that."

"No offense Benny, but neither of you are old enough to know what love is," Jon said. "You're both still too young."

"This is love, I just know it," Benny insisted. "I wouldn't expect you to understand, but trust me when I say that there's a clear connection between the two of us. I mean, you'd never do anything to hurt Liz, would you?"

"No, don't be silly, of course I wouldn't," Jon said.

"It's like that between me and Luan," Benny explained. "We're so close that it's almost like we're family."

"Awww," Jon responded. Next, the young man put his right hand into his jean pocket and begin digging inside of it.

"What are you looking for?" Benny questioned.

"You'll see." Jon replies with a little smile.

After striking the match, Jon guided the timid flame into the pipe. The flame wavered and flickered a bit before latching onto the contents, lighting them up and producing the earthy aroma that Jon had come to love. He placed his lips on the pipe and greedily inhaled.  
"Wha…" Benny's awkwardly voice trailed off. "I had no idea that you were a smoker until now..."

"Before you were even born, I used to smoke these bad boys daily. They really gave back some good memories. I think I've quit smoking around '81 or '82."

"But you're smoking right now, Jon."

"Oh, yeah, it's an old habit that I thought I'd snuffed out," Jon explained. "Over time I found that I missed that feeling and the sensation it brought me. The way it seemed to calm my nerves."

"Oh." Benny says in a quiet tone.

"Don't tell your parents I smoked in front of you."

"Eh, they could really care less." 


	3. the nightmare

A few hours later back in Michigan...

It is now towards the end of a weekday at Royal Woods High. While teachers were educating the pupils about certain subjects, the students were severely glaring at the clocks or their phones, waiting for 2:00 to arrive. Others occupied themselves with listening to music, drawing, writing, etc. Some students were lightly hitting their pencils against the desk to create a beat. A few of the kids were chatting with their friends while theirs were dozing off on their desks. In different circumstances, Luan was fantasizing about her own spring break plans. How would Benny react if he saw his girlfriend visiting him in Indiana?

"I need to get out of here." One student claimed desperately, while wiping the perspiration off their forehead.

Eventually, the whole classroom had gotten boisterous which got to the point where the teacher had to clap her hands to make everyone focus on the whiteboard.

"Class, I understand all of you are very thrilled for spring break…" The teacher cleared their throat and resumed speaking. "But it does not mean you have to fool around, you all need to finish your English assignments by the end of the day."

"It is already the end of the day." Luan replies.

"Please do not talk back to the teacher, Luan. I will hand over the assignments and—"

"NO!" The students cried out, simultaneously.

"Oh, alright, never mind." The teacher responds while stroking their chin. "How about after break. Does that sound better?"

In response, the students murmured in agreement.

"Fine then. Just remember, there is a quiz coming up!" The teacher said while gathering each teenagers classwork and stacked them on their desk.

"Awww, seriously?"

"This isn't fair."

"I didn't even study!"

"Come on now!"

"Why?!"

Just as the students were groaning and bleating, the sound of the bell was heard. They had stopped complaining, rushed to pack up their belongings, picked up their bookbag and headed out the door with some saying "have a nice break!" at their educators and waving goodbye to them.

The school campus was swarming with teenagers all eagerly making a break for freedom. The teens had not a care in the world and few concerns rather than leaving this place they considered a prison. An older teenage boy with shaved hair began playing music, three teenage girls were gossiping about others around them while strolling, others were hopping on their assigned busses or getting into their parents or guardian's car. Luan took a look at the driveway to see if her mother would come to pick her up by the front of the school. The sky was misty, as if it had rained not so long ago, so it was hard to see if Rita was there or not. She sat down on the bench and waited. Then Luan grabbed her bookbag and placed it on the bench, beside her. She dug through her backpack to search for a certain puppet. Once she grasped Mr. Coconuts, she hugged him tightly and smiled.

"Down in the dumps, eh?" Mr. Coconuts asked.

"Yes but I think I'm getting a bit better than yesterday." Luan said, standing straighter. "I'm just happy it's finally spring break."

"Have ya heard back from your old flame?" Mr. Coconuts asked. "I know he's been weighing on your mind lately after how your last conversation ended."

"Well, I…" Luan said.

"Have you even talked to your lovebird since the argument?" Mr. Coconuts asked.

"Um, I… no," Luan answered.

"Well what are ya waiting for, toots?" Mr. Coconuts asked. "You can't just wait forever for him to call ya back."

"I… just don't know." Luan sighed. Maybe tonight after dinner or so… but for right now, I really don't know anything."

"It's better late than never." Mr. Coconuts replied.

Luan didn't know how to respond, so she just nodded her head back and forth.

Soon, Rita finally arrived driving Vanzilla. Luan got up from the bench and walked over to the van before getting into the third row seats.

After a long drive, they arrived back at the Loud House.

As Luan entered her house, a scent of freshly cooked pierogies with her father's special cheese filling had hit her nose, awaiting for her, sitting on a dining room table. She turned around to see if anyone else was here. She shrugged her shoulders and walked off to the area. She bit into one of the most cheesiest, mouthwatering, puffiest pierogies she could find.

"These are so good." She whispered to herself while with pierogies in her mouth.

"Now, don't get too crazy with those." Rita responded as she walked into the dining room. "Save most of them for Lori."

"Lori?" Luan said, not to choke on the food. "Wait, Lori's coming?"

"Oh, I forgot to tell you, Lori's coming all the way from Great Lakes City to visit us for spring break!" Rita replied with a content tone. "I actually just got off the phone with her as a matter of fact."

"Really? When?" Luan asked, excited at the thought of seeing her eldest sister again. It felt like it had been an eternity since she'd last seen her.

"Today," Rita responded. "I was actually making sure everything was set before she gets here." Rita looked at her watch and said "She should be arriving any minute now."

"Wow!" Luan happily replies. "By the way, mom, can, I, um, talk to you about something?"

"Sure, of course. What is it?"

The two exited out of the dining room and sat down on the main room's couch, commencing their conversation.

"Well... um... I've been wondering if... um..." Luan couldn't finish the entire sentence without blushing or stuttering.

"Go on," Rita urged her daughter.

"...if I could go to Indiana to visit Benny over spring break!" Luan continued rapidly. "Please?"

"What? Slow down, sweetie. I don't understand a word you're saying."

Luan took a deep breath and repeated the sentence.

"I was wondering if I could go to Indiana to stay with Benny over spring break..."

"What? Why's that?" Rita asked.

"It's a long story… but I'm hoping to make it up to him." Luan responded, biting her nails.

"I honestly don't know about you going all the way to another state to see your boyfriend."

"Why? I'm fifteen years old now! You can trust me on this."

"It's not about us trusting you, It's just that…"

"Hmm?"

"You're not ready yet..."

"W-What? Why... What do you... mean? I'm ready to see Benny! Please mom..."

"Maybe at a different time."

"Mom please! I need to see him! I can handle myself!"

"See? This is why I said you aren't ready this type of responsibility for yourself."

"I need to see him before it's too late." Luan demanded her mother.

"Too late for what? You'll see him next week! You are overreacting about this."

"I... I... I don't want him to be mad at me! I want me and him to... be happy with each other! And I... I made him mad..." The teenage girl stammered before breaking down in tears.

Rita put her finger by Luan's mouth, quietly saying "shush" to her. Then wiping away her tears and hugged her.

"How about I discuss this with your father tonight when he comes back from work? How does that sound?"

Luan stayed quiet and nodded sadly as her mother headed to another area. She picked up the TV remote off the ground and turned it on. She would flick through the channels, looking tedious.

"The Love Boat? Nah. The show's been on hiatus for nearly 2 years."

"That 50s Show? No, soap operas aren't my thing."

"ARRGH? No, that's Lincoln's show."

"Friday Eve Recorded? Maybe later."

"Planet Battles?"

"Weirder Things?"

"Sweet But Psycho?" Isn't that one show where a crazy jealous girlfriend murdered her boyfriend for cheating on her? No, thank you."

"CTV? They don't even play music anymore, all they play are reruns of teen pregnancy based shows and Georgibama."

"Shattering Good?"

"The Eddie Gourmand Cooking Show? Not really."

As Luan was about to turn off the television, due to her lack of interest of the movies or shows being on the TV guide, something caught her eye.

"Garfield and Friends?" She wondered. It's been a very long time for the girl since she saw anything related to the famous fat cat.

She shrugged and turned it on, having nothing else to watch. As she switched to it, she made sure to skip over the Orson's Farm segment of the episode due to them being to worse part of every episode. Even to this day, she preferred Garfield.

(Jon through the television, speaking): "When a airplane travels faster than the speed of sound, a shock wave..." (Yes, this is a quote from an actual episode.)

Luan could not help thinking how Garfield's owner, Jon Arbuckle had a strong resemblance to her own boyfriend. Curly with dark brown hair, mostly wore blue collared shirts, an dorky personality but a heart of gold.

"Odd. In fact it's... Uncanny even. They look so similar and... N-No! Luan stop it!"

"I'm home!" Someone called out as they walked into the front door.

The person was fifth oldest Loud, Lynn Jr. She dropped her heavy bookbag on the ground and bounced off to the couch.

"Hey, Luan. What are you watching?"

"Ah! Didn't see you there, Lynn." Luan got startled for a second. "I'm watching Garfield and Friends."

"What? Why Garfield of all things?" Lynn questioned.

"Because there was nothing else on the television and plus, it's been a long time since I saw anything Garfield related."

"Hey! Speaking of that fat cat. There's this thing that Lucy's been posting her art to on Reddit. Something called... r/imsorryjon."

"Uh, what's that?"

"So basically, its about Garfield turning into this cool ass demon lovecraftian god that terrorizes Jon."

In response, Luan gave Lynn a cold stare after hearing what her sister just said.

"Ooh, there's also a thing called 'Garfield minus Garfield'.

"What's that?"

"It's where Garfield is being taken out but Jon's the only character. He sees everyone else but expect Garfield who is his imagination. He's also seen to have suicidal thoughts." Lynn explained.

"Okay, I think don't need to hear anymore!" Luan said she put her fingers in ears to block out the sound. "Just let me watch Garfield in peace."

"Fine, but don't tell anyone I told you." Lynn said, getting off the couch and walking out out of the living room.

Luan unpaused the cartoon and resumed watching but the thought of the unsettling demon Garfield's crept into her mind.

She tried to get it out of her mind. It's not scary! Odd? Yes. Uncanny? Definitely. But it's nothing to be afraid of. Plus, Demon Garfield does not exist, it can't hurt you...

Luan kept watching the TV until she felt tired, and unknowingly fell into slumber.

A few hours later…

Luan slowly opened her eyes to see day had turned to night. The TV now playing reruns of some old western and everyone was probably out somewhere. She yawned and looked around, only to come face to face with... Garfield sitting... on her couch? She let out a terrifying scream.

"WHAT THE HELL!?" She screamed on top of her lungs.

Luan almost fell down to the floor when she saw the cartoonish cat laying down in front of her. He wasn't speaking a word. Well that does make sense. He can't really talk.

"Hello, Luan. Do you like Mondays?" Garfield spoke in a deep voice.

She began to stammer as she backed away. "Ummmm… I-I-I-I d-don't know…"

"You might want to say no... Because I̶̸h̷a̵t̸e̶ ̷M̸o̵n̷d̷a̴y̶s̷," replied Garfield, his eyes turning pitch black.

"Oh my god." Luan responded, looking frightened. "Stay away from me."

"I don't think... You understand..." it said, now starting to grow in size, becoming more rabid looking by the second. "I hate Mondays... And when there's a Monday... I get more hungry than usual."

"W-W-W-What do you m-m-mean by t-t-that?"

"I crave... Not just lasagna," spoke the monstrous Garfield, now looking like an demonic, hunched over humanoid thing. Sharp jagged teeth littered its mouth with another set of clawed hands having grown out of his sides.

"Holy shit." Luan whispered to herself quietly.

"I crave..." Garfield said before reaching out and grabbing Luan in his mighty grasp, opening his wide maw to reveal a second mouth littered with eyes to watch over the pain and agony of his prey's demise.

"HUMAN FLESH!" Garfield laughed before shoving Luan in his mouth He took one sharp, painful chew until...

"AHHHHHH!" Luan screamed in agony as she sat straight up on the couch, being awakened from her nightmare.

"I think she's about to wake up." A voice said.

"As if that bloodcurdling scream wasn't evident enough," another voice said.

Luan opened her eyes to see Lucy, Lori and all of the Louds crowding over her, looking deeply concerned.

"H-Huh? What's... going on?"

"Are you okay, Luan? We heard you scream." Lincoln asked.

"I... I'm fine... Just a nightmare," Luan replied.

"Was it about Garfield?" Lynn questioned.

"Of course it was. Thanks to you, I hate it."

"Hehehehehe," Lynn chuckled.

"LYNN!" Everyone said, simultaneously.

"I see Lynn showed you some of my art," Lucy said.

"No duh."

"Did it look nice?"

"Yeah, very nice to scare me like that!"

"Thank you. Those fifty upvotes were so worth it."

"Hey, Luan. I really missed you." Lori said as she smiled at her little sister.

"You're here!" Luan hugged her so tight before backing away. "You're cold."

"Well, I had to drive from Great Lakes College to Royal Woods for three hours."

In response, Luan chuckled and smiled.

"I missed you too, Lori. A lot."

"Awww. I hope you get better after that dream you had," The eldest Loud sibling said as she got off the couch and left.

All of the Loud siblings (minus Luan) had left the scene and went upstairs. Rita and Lynn Sr. were seen talking about something in an area. Luan assumed it was the idea to visit her boyfriend over in Indiana.

"I just don't think she's ready yet." Rita stated her point.

"I don't see the problem, Rita. Luan just wants to go hang out with her boyfriend for the week," Lynn Sr. said

"I know but… she could get murdered, abducted or God knows what!"

"Baloney! That Benny kid is awesome! He wouldn't hurt her one bit."

Rita sadly sighed without saying another word.

"Or... Are you afraid of some Funny Business will happen between them?"

"What? No! It's just that…"

"Oh c'mon, Rita. Admit it! You're afraid they'll get down and dirty."

"YES!" Rita blurted out. "I don't them to be having unprotected sex at a young age."

"Not like you and I are innocent, Ms. I had our first child during college," he replied back. Lynn Sr. replied.

"I don't want Luan and Benny to go through the same stuff as we did when Lori was first born."

"I know you do. But... Luan has always been the kind of girl who seemed... smart about this kind of stuff. I don't see her being a teen mom. I see Luna or Lincoln becoming a parent early like us," He replied back. "Don't ask how I know. Luna is a bit... irresponsible with almost anything and Lincoln just gives off that kind of feeling about him."

"I guess... you're right..." Rita responded. "So why not give Luan a chance? She does seem... out of it," Lynn Sr. said.

Rita glanced at her daughter with curious look and turned back around.

"Well?"

"Yes."

Luan eavesdropped on the whole conversation and whispered, "YES!" to herself but she pretended not to hear anything and acted like if she watched TV for most of the time.

"Great! I'll go tell Luan! And... Keep an eye on Luna and Lincoln from now on. Who knows how many kids they'll have," He said, at which Rita could only chuckle.

Lynn Sr. sat down on the couch with his daughter and told her the news.

"Yeah, dad? What is it?"

"Me and your mother have been discussing about you going to another state visit your boyfriend and well…"

"I can go?" Luan asked excitedly.

"Yes, you can go!"

"Oh my gosh. Thank you so much!" She hugged her father.

"But on one condition: don't get dirty with Benny, don't talk to strangers, don't disrespecting Benny's caretakers, definitely NO dangerous pranks!" Lynn Sr. meant real business when he said that.

"Aw... No pranks?"

"NO PRANKS." He demanded. "Doesn't matter if it's harmless or not. NO pranks!"

"Oh, alright… guess you needed to send Benny some type of protection!" Luan joked around and did her signature laugh. "Get it?"

"Don't make me change my decision."

"Oh, okay."

"I need to know two things: who's taking you and which part of Indiana are you even going to?"

"Uh…"

"You... Do know where to go. Right?"

"No, I don't." Luan replied before letting out a sigh. "Let me do something first."

Lynn Sr. shrugged and let Luan do her thing.

In the meantime back in Muncie, Indiana. Jon Arbuckle is seen showing off his sock collection to Benny in his bedroom, who was bored out of his mind. He even fell asleep at some point during the showcase.

"Benny!" Jon scolded at the teenage boy. "No sleeping!"

Benny snapped right awake as he heard his cousin yelling. "What?!" Saliva dripped down from his mouth to left arm.

"Check out my brand new light-up socks. 5 colors all in one! Yellow, green, purple, red and blue!"

"Where... do you even buy these things?"

"Geeks R Us. Why'd you ask? Interested in buying them?"

"N-No! Just... Wondering is all."

As Jon continued to torment Benny with his never ending sock collection, Jon's lasagna loving cat Garfield snuck in.

Garfield gave his cheesy grin and hopped into the drawer where Jon's socks were and began throwing them around the room.

"GARFIELD!" Jon yelled on top of his lungs. "Get out of there!"

"The best thing I have seen all day!" Benny began to burst out in laughter.

"Benny, you're not helping." Jon said with a serious look on his face. "You're enabling him even more."

"Sorry Jon. But it's like watching one of your comics come to life!"

And the fat cat did just that. He stopped and threw a sock at Jons face.

"I oughta…"

"Hey now. Don't get violent. I'm just giving the people what they want," Garfield smugly said.

"It's gonna take me all night to sort them together again!" Jon whined.

"Not my fault you own too many socks." Garfield responded as he jumped out of the drawer.

"Oh well, I'm going to prepare dinner." Then Jon turned around to his cousin and said- "Benny, would you like to choose?"

"I feel like no matter what I choose, we'll have lasagna," replied Benny who glanced at Garfield who winked at him.

"Of course." Jon muttered under his breath as he walked out of the bedroom.

"But... I think we should have salads!" Benny exclaimed, making Garfield's face drop is disappointment. Something Jon was able to notice.

Jon turned back around. "Salads? Ooh, I have the perfect ingredients!"

"We could try something different than lasagna."

"I dunno... isn't there an... E. Coli outbreak?" Garfield said, trying to get lasagna back on the table.

"Garfield, it's April." Benny said.

"Eep! ?! No thank you!" Jon freaked out.

"Dang it." Benny said, making Garfield tauntingly smile.

"Lasagna coming right up!" Jon said, as he actually left the room this time, leaving Garfield and Benny alone.

"Dang it, Garfield."

"What? Don't get mad at me. Would you want lasagna or get ?"

"There isn't an outbreak right now. Trust me. I checked," Benny stated. "Besides, how are you not... dead from all of that lasagna?"

"Because...I have nine lives?"

"All that lasagna is going to bite you back one day," Benny said before going downstairs.

"Shut up." Garfield responded with an attitude.

"Excuse me, I'm about to make a call." Benny stated.

"Oh? Is it that girl Luan you've been talking about?" Jon teasingly told Benny, who simply blushed.

"Who's Luan?" Garfield asked.

Benny didn't reply, instead, he just walked out of the kitchen to the back porch to have some private time for himself.

It was somewhat cold outside but also a little dash of warm temperatures in the air. He took out his phone and began calling his girlfriend.

"C'mon... Please pick up..."

The phone was ringing for a while until he heard a similar voice.

"Hello? Is this a telemarketer?" Luan said, not bothering to read the caller ID.

"What? This is Benny!"

"Oh! Benny! I... I was just about to call you!"

"I'm sorry for what happened yesterday morning…" The two teenagers said in unison without realizing.

"Uhh... No please. You go." They said in unison, once again.

"I'm sorry for what happened yesterday morning. Please don't be angry with me!"

"No no! It's my fault! I was... acting like a jerk and it was uncalled for," Benny said.

"It's my fault for getting angry over the simplest thing."

"N-No it... It isn't your fault. Honest," Benny replied.

"You know I love you very much and I would never stop loving you, Benjamin."

Benny blushed when Luan used his full name. She really wasn't kidding around this time.

"I wish I could just kiss you right now!"

"Aw... Same here, babe!"

"By the way, how's it going with you in Indiana?"

"Alright, I guess. I got see my cousin for the first time in a decade!"

"Wow! That sounds awesome!"

"Yeah. He showed me his comics for work. He's a cartoonist. Anyway his tie collection and even sock collection."

"Sounds like someone Lincoln would be friends with," Luan said with a cheeky chuckle.

"Yeah."

"Not to sound creepy or anything but which part of Indiana are you staying in? Indianapolis or-"

"Uh... Why do you... wanna know?"

"Because I'm coming to visit you over spring break! Duh."

Benny went completely silent.

"Y-You... You are?"

"Yeah… i-i-is there something wrong with that?" Luan's voice went low.

"N-No! It's just... I dunno what my cousin will think of it."

"Oh..."

"I'll go ask him! See if it's ok with him."

"Okay!"

Benny went back into the house and asked Jon if Luan could stay with them for a while.

"Hey Jonny boy. Uh... You know that Luan girl I told you about? Super cool and very cute?" Benny said, trying to act cool.

"I heard that!"

Jon took out the lasagna out of the oven, set it down on the table to let it cool off. "Huh?"

"My girlfriend! Luan? I've told you about her before," Benny said.

"The one you teased ol' mini me about." Garfield said.

"Oh yeah. I don't know about that." Jon answered back. "Having a kid I don't even know personally in my own house."

"I dunno. I think you two would get along pretty well!"

"Alright but I need her parents or guardians permission to do so."

Benny gave Jon his phone to allow him to talk to Luan's parents.

"Hello. This is Lynn Loud Sr. speaking." A deep but squeaky voice said.

"Ah! Hello Mr. Loud! I assume you are Luan's father?"

"Yes, I am but who are you?"

"Jon Arbuckle, Benny's cousin."

"You're kidding." Lynn Sr. could not believe it. He was talking to his favorite comic strip character."

"Nope."

"OH MY GOSH!" Lynn Sr. screamed.

"Dad, what you are doing? Get to the point!" Luan questioned.

"Anyway, what were you going to ask me?"

"Well… my cousin wants your daughter to visit Muncie for awhile and…"

"There needs to be another guardian for her."

"Oh uhh... well it's just me and Benny," Jon replied. "As well as my cat Garfield and dog Odie."

"Okay then? I just want Luan to be safe and sound over there, you know.."

"I know. And while its... sudden but... she can come along if that's ok with you!"

"Sure."

"Do not worry! My neighborhood is pretty safe!" Jon added. "I hope."

"Thank you so much. Have a good night!"

"You too!"

Jon hands over the phone back to his cousin.

"Alright, she can stay but only until spring break is over, got it?"

"Yeah. I'm getting quite hungry after a long day."

"Now let's eat up that lasan-" Jon gasped when he saw the orange tabby ate most of their dinner. "GARFIELD! WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?! THAT WAS FOR EVERYONE!"

"Duh. While you were on the phone, I got hungry." Garfield replies as he burped. "It's not my fault it was waiting for me."

"What am I gonna do now for dinner?!" Jon angrily questioned.

"Isn't there a burger joint like 10 minutes away?" Benny reminded him.

"Oh yeah, that'll work just fine," Jon said. "Let me just grab my keys and I'll take us there!"

"That place does have some pretty good milkshakes," Garfield muttered. "And I could use some dessert after eating all that lasagna…"

"Oh no you don't," Jon said. "You're staying right here at the house."

"Ahh come on, is this about the lasagna?" Garfield asked. "I told you it's not my fault that you kept me waiting. What was I supposed to do? Wait for you to get off the phone?"

"Yes!" Jon stated emphatically.

"But that could've taken hours," Garfield moaned.

"Our conversation didn't even last five minutes!" Jon pointed out!

"So you're really going to let me go without dessert just because I jumped the gun?" Garfield asked. "Cut me some slack, I'm a growing cat, I need all the food I can get."

Jon grabbed the bridge of his nose and sighed before grabbing his car keys and heading for the door. "Come on, Benny, let's go get something to eat," Jon said before pointing at Garfield and telling him "We'll be back here in 30 minutes, try not to get in any trouble while we're gone."

"Alright, alright, I got it," Garfield muttered. "Geez, what's got him so agitated?"

"Oh, and another thing, don't even think about locking Odie out of the house again!" Jon ordered him.

"Aye aye captain," Garfield said before walking into the living room and plopping down in front of the TV.


	4. an old friend's return

**As the fat cat lounged on the chair, he saw a similar silhouette to one of his bestest pals and girlfriend sitting on a wooden fence out through the window.**

He got off the recliner, he went off to the back door to meet up with his lady friend. The orange tabby began venting his problems he faced today.

"Hi." Garfield said, getting up on the fence.

"Hello, Garfield. How's your day been?" Arlene asked.

"Shitty." He replied in a bitchy tone.

"Wow. Who pissed in your cereal?" Arlene responded back.

"Do you really want to know?"

"Sure. Nothing else to do."

"Jon's cousin is gonna stay with us for two weeks, I lost Odie and nearly got him killed, I ate the rest of the lasagna for dinner, and now Jon's not letting me have any dessert."

"Guess things have you stressed out?"

"Yeah. I strongly regret losing Odie for the most part."

"Well, maybe you SHOULD regret it. If Odie had died, it would've been all on you."

"And Jon would never be able to forgive me…"

"No one would. Not even me."

"Ugh."

"Anyway, I found some magazines by a dumpster."

"Oh jeez. This is gonna get awkward."

"Food magazines and a vogue magazine, Garf."

"Oh… Well that's my kind of sauce...the food mags, that is."

"Of course it is. Though it would be nice if you also took an interest in vogue."

"If I had to live without lasagna for the rest of my life, I'd kill myself instead."

"Garfield, don't ever talk about suicide or anything like that."

"Relax, I was just kidding… mostly."

"Oh, tomorrow morning we're going to Comic Studio! It's been years since we last went."

"I hate that place."

"Why?"

"It gave me so many bad memories there."

"Fair enough I suppose."

"I guess it could always be worse, though."

"That's one way to look at it."

"Guess so."

"Don't worry about it, everything's going to be just fine. I heard they permanently removed the Real World portal for good."

"Thank God."

"Oh come on Gar, it wasn't that bad was it?"

"It was absolutely horrifying! You couldn't pay me enough to relive that experience!"

"Well, like I said, they removed the real world portal so we won't even have to worry about that."

"I'm still reluctant to tag along. Why can't we just stay at home and eat?"

"Don't you ever get tired of just doing the same old thing day in and day out?"

"No. That's the beauty of it. It never gets stale!"

"You're coming, whether you want to or not."

"Ughhh, fine." Garfield said, rolling his eyes.

Just then, the pink cat's phone goes off, which reveals a text from one of her roommates.

"It's from Harry." Arlene said. "I think I need to go home, it's getting too late."

"It's only 9:00!" Garfield responded.

"So?"

"But I mean, don't you stay on the fences until like 10 or even around midnight?"

"Yeah, but tonight's not the night."

As Garfield and his girlfriend got off the fence, the latter kissed him goodnight, making the fat orange tabby grin like a Cheshire Cat.

"You kissed me."

"Why couldn't I?"

"It's just that we hardly ever kiss or make out."

"Don't make me regret that."

"Oh." Garfield said in a quiet voice. "Anyway, would you like me to walk you back to your house?"

"Sure." Arlene responded while giving Garfield a tiny smile.

The two felines began their stroll off of the Arbuckle property and headed to Arlene's home, which was next to Vito's Pizzeria.

_**Meanwhile with Jon and Benny…**_

**Once they'd gotten their food, Benny and Jon remained seated in the car and began eating. It quickly became evident just how hungry the two of them were with how fast they were taking bites out of their burgers and shoveling french fries into their mouth, only taking a break in order to take a sip of their sodas. If one were able to observe them up close, it would look like the two were so preoccupied with eating that they weren't taking the time to breathe. They didn't even exchange words with each other until they were halfway finished with their meals.**

"Burrrp." Benny said as he covered his mouth. "Sorry, excuse me."

"Nah, don't be sorry!" Jon gave him a huge belch in response.

Benny chuckled and continued to burp along with his cousin. It was really going to be an enjoyable time hanging out with Jon.

"Hey! Let's see who has the longest burp!" Jon happily suggested.

"Oh, you're on!" Benny proclaimed.

"You really think you can take me, little man?" Jon asked as he grabbed his soda.

"Oh please, I am not going to lose to the man who dresses as a flower every spring!" Benny retorted.

"Then how about we up the stakes?" Jon asked.

"How so?" Benny asked.

"If I can out-burp you, you have to dress up as a flower when your girlfriend gets here," Jon challenged him.

"And if I win, you have to act as our chauffeur while she's here," Benny retorted.

"Sounds fair to me," Jon said.

"Then let's do this thing!" Benny said, grabbing his drink before he and Jon began chugging their sodas.

**It took a couple of seconds, but eventually the cousins let out a loud, almost thunderous burp that echoed in the air. Jon's burp lasted for a full 17 seconds while Benny just barely managed to outdo him by maintaining his burp for a full 19 seconds. After they finished, the two took a second to catch their breath before Benny took the chance to gloat over his victory.**

"Sorry cousin Jon, looks like you lose," Benny said.

"Damn it!" Jon cursed under his breath.

"I told you, I was not going to dress up as a flower in front of my girlfriend," Benny said. "You never stood a chance."

"Hmph!" Jon crossed his arms and turned away from his cousin.

"I am such a pro at this." Benny bragged to himself.

**Still somewhat sulking over his loss to his younger cousin, Jon put the key into the ignition and started his car. It took a few seconds for the engine to start, but eventually the vehicle roared to life. Afterwards Jon proceeded to drive out of the fast food restaurant parking lot and headed back at the house.**

Upon opening the door, Jon cheerfully announced "Garfield, we're back!"

The only thing he got in response was the sound of crickets chirping, something that struck him as rather odd.

"Now where could that cat have gone off to?" Jon asked himself as he took a moment to look around for the fat orange colored tabby.

"I don't know, Jon. The last place I've seen him was on the recliner before we left." Benny replied.

"That's strange but knowing him, he'll come back. As for right now, you need to go off to bed early."

"Seriously?!"

"I'm aware, but tomorrow's a big day and I don't want to miss even a second of it!" Jon said excitedly. "First thing tomorrow morning, we're heading to the comic studio to do the next strip."

"Oh, that's right," Benny said. "I sometimes forget about the whole part of a famous comic strip thing."

"And that's not all!" Jon said, overcome with glee. "After that's wrapped up, I have a huge date with Liz!"

"Sounds like it's going to be fun," Benny said. "I hope the two of you have a great time."

"Yeah, me too!" Jon said.

Benny then walked over to the couch and rested his head on one of the arm rests.

"I think I'm gonna hit the hay for the night…" Benny said, closing his eyes off to slumber.

"Alright then." Jon responded, turning off the light switch and then heading upstairs. "Don't let the bed bugs bite!"

**_Meanwhile with Garfield and Arlene..._**

**As they reached Arlene's destination, the two cats looked at the pink feline's 'home', which was a forest green colored dumpster with rusted metal spots and graffiti all over it As soon as they climbed on top of the dumpster, the two cats gazed their eyes upon each other. The fat cat leaned towards his girlfriend's lips and was about to kiss her but Arlene stopped him by putting her finger on his lips.**

"Garfield! Can you please don't? I just...don't think that I'm ready to commit to this kind of thing."

"Okay…" Garfield groaned. "It's just that I never made out with anyone before."

"I don't have time for this. You really need to go." Arlene said. "I'm sorry."

"Alright, I understand." Garfield smiled, jumping off the dumpster. "I'll see you tomorrow, I guess?"

"Yeah, you too." Arlene's voice faded away as she went through the dark alley.

The orange tabby saw Arlene once again and gave her a friendly wave before taking his leave.

"Jeez, it is freezing out." Garfield muttered himself, covering half of his body with his arms.

**_Back in Michigan with Luan…_**

**Luan was laying down on her bed. The very same bunk bed that she shared with Luna. It was a tough night as Luan couldn't sleep no matter how hard she tried.**

**However, she got fed up. Luan hopped down and began to pack her things in her old yellow suitcase with many flowers on it.**

**Then suddenly, she remembered the journal that one of her great aunts had given her last Christmas. It was still laying underneath the cold, messy, crowded bunk bed, remaining untouched... until now. Luan reached her hand to get the item but the only thing she came across was this icky cobweb, an old yellow hair barrette from 2003, a hair bubble, a rusted penny, two dried up markers. She grabbed a flashlight and began searching it for real now.**

The teenage girl finally found the diary which was, of course, covered with dust. Which caused her to sneeze, she wiped off the dust and saw the vibrant, beautifully detailed journal.

"This will be perfect! I can write down all of my experiences in Muncie." She thought to herself as she set it down perfectly into her suitcase.

"Uhhh, dude? What are you doing with that suitcase?" A voice said.

"Gah! Oh! Uh... Hey, Lunes! I'm doing... Nothing," Luan nervously replied.

"Nothing? Really?" Luna crosses her arms while giving her younger sister a frown.

"Sigh... No. I found this cool diary."

"Is that the diary our great aunt Bernice gave to you for Christmas?"

"Yep."

"I thought it would be cool to write down a few things on it!"

"Whatcha gonna do? Write your weird fantasies with Benny on there?"

"N-No! Maybe..." Luan said, blushing. "I'm thinking of writing down my experiences in Muncie!"

"Muncie? Muncie, Indiana? Why are you goin' there?"

"To see Benny?"

"Oh no, man. I heard too many stories about Muncie. It's too wild and full of drug addicts and-"

"Well... Too bad. I'm going!"

"Suit yourself. I heard about a girl who nearly died at a strip club due to a drug overdose last month and another one where a witch kidnapped a guy and forced him to marry her and..."

"She shouldn't have taken drugs? That... should be common knowledge. Wait? There are actual witches in Muncie?"

"Best not to think too hard about that last one, I mean it's just a rumor. Anyway, Sam's family went to Muncie about three years ago or whenever, her father was nearly stabbed to death for... I forgot why."

"Oh jeez! I'm... glad they're both ok."

"But on the bright side, I heard that dude from Garfield lives in that town."

"Wait. Really?"

"Yeah."

**Luna just shrugged in response and began climbing up to her part of the bunk bed. Luan continued to pack her belongings up. Deep down, Luan was still nervous about her trip to Muncie and who was going to take her there? Going to an unfamiliar place all alone can be pretty scary, especially when you don't know where you're going.**

_**The next morning…**_

_5:30am_

**It was approximately the crack of dawn at Jon Arbuckle's house. Around 5:30 in the morning, everyone was sound asleep in their resting positions. As Benny was half-asleep, he heard a loud knock from all the way from the living room. He ignored it and tried to get some shut-eye but the knock was getting louder and louder, which eventually turned into a pound. He got fed up and got up from the couch and walked quietly downstairs to the living room.**

As he got there, he flicked the light switch and called out: "It's 5:30 in the morning! Who's there, and what do you want?!"

"Woah! Take it easy, kid. I'm just here to see someone." A masusline voice said from outside.

"Who are you exactly looking for?"

"Jon Arbuckle?"

"You mean my second cousin? He's still sleeping." Benny repiled.

"Well, do you mind if I crash on the couch? At least until he gets up?" The voice said.

"Ummm… I don't know about that and who are you?"

"I'm Lyman. Lyman Jackson." The voice said calmly.

"Lyman?" Benny repeated as he tried to remember the said name. "D-D-Do I know you from somewhere?"

"I don't think so. Now can you please let me in?"

Benny pressed his lips and crossed his arms, thinking about letting Lyman in.

"Fine." He said.

**With that, Benny unlocked the front door. A man who looked like he was in his late twenties (older than Jon, apparently) entered the house. He had jet black hair which was curly and short. He had a bushy light brown mustache placed under his nose. The young man wore a lime green colored flannel jacket and a bright yellow sweater with questionable stains appearing on it.**

"Thanks for letting me in, kiddo. What did you say your name was?"

"It's Benjamin John, but I mostly go by Benny, or just Ben."

"Oh, right."

"So, where did you come from?"

"Indianapolis."

"Indianapolis? Isn't that the capitol? What were you doing there?"

"Well... you see, Benny, I went to the… gentlemen's club to have some fun, probably knocked up some random dancer and got drunk as always but don't tell your cousin." Lyman said after he let out a nervous laugh.

"You did what now?"

"Don't tell me what?" A deep but high pitched voice said behind them, causing them to get frightened.

"Jon! How's it going, bud? I missed yo—"

"Lyman! Where the heck were you all this time?! You can't just up and leave me like that!" Jon said.

"Well-" Lyman's face turned the color of Vito's tomato sauce, due to embarrassment.

"And you don't even think about inviting me to Cloud Sixty-Nine!? Come on, now!"

"Can we not?" Garfield added as he yawned.

"It shows how much you don't care about me, as your best friend and roommate!"

"Stop acting like a bratty six year old, Arbuckle. You're twenty fucking two years old. Get over yourself. Besides, it's not like I left the country or anything." Lyman said as he walked into the basement.

**Jon just sat on the couch and sighed heavily. Benny then walked over to him.**

"Jon...I'm sorry." He said.

"It's alright, Benjamin." Jon replied. "I guess I should've told you about Lyman sooner."

"What exactly happened between you two?"

"It's nothing really. Just some sort of disagreement we had years ago."

"Right…"

"Okay, so how about you get a couple more hours of sleep or so? I'll fix us up some coffee when you get up."

"Sure. After such a rude awakening, I could murder some coffee...when I'm awake, that is."

**_Two hours later…._**

**The breathtaking yellow & orange ombré sunrise began rising upon the summery-like temperature in the city of Muncie, Indiana. The sound of the next-door neighbors mowing their grass, birds chirping on the trees. The tubby orange tabby was catching some Zs until a certain fragrance went through his nostril, affecting him to get out of the box. He followed the scent and it led the cat to the kitchen where most of the fun started - Eating. There was a stack of blueberry pancakes with drizzling maple syrup on top, butter melting and an optional choice of whipped cream added. Garfield's mouth began to drool.**

"Good morning, Garfield!" Jon called out to the fat cat in a preppy tone.

"Oh?" Garfield stopped glazing at the delicious breakfast and became startled by the voice.

"It's about time you got up. I made the house blueberry pancakes for breakfast!"

"Ooh, I know. Might have about... three hundred and fifty of those." Garfield gave out his signature laugh.

"No, don't you even think about it. You better save the rest for Benny, Lyman and Odie."

"Ugh, fine."

"And you need to get ready to go. We're leaving in an hour." Jon said as he walked away to another area.

"Yeah sure, Jon."

"Oh, and Garfield?"

"Yes, Jon?"

"When you're done with your portion, go upstairs and see if Benny's awake. I don't want him to miss out on this feast."

"Whatever."

**Garfield went into the kitchen while Jon's teenage cousin had gotten a good night's sleep.**

At that moment, Benny woke up and checked his phone. He came across five unread messages from his girlfriend and another three from his parents.

"What the? Why did Luan leave me five messages?" Benny questioned as he rubbed his eyes to make the vision clearer.

There were text messages saying:

_Hiiii! I love you. _

_Are you free to talk?_

_Hello?_

_I'm bored af. Can we talk now?_

_Are you just ignoring me?_

"Jeez." He replied before texting back.

_Hey, babe. Sorry that I didn't receive your texts, I was sleeping and it was really late._

After about fifteen seconds, another text came up saying:

_I see. Sorry about that. I just miss you so much._

_It's fine, Luan. So what's going on?_

_I was thinking about coming over to Muncie for a visit sometime._

Benny's eyes widened when he saw that.

_Here? Are you sure?_

_Of course I am. Wouldn't want you to feel too lonely over there._

Benny let out a small chuckle when he read that text. He then replied with another one of his own.

_Why not? It'd be nice for you to finally meet Jon._

_Great! I'll see you soon, you silly clown._

**Benny blushed as he read those last three words. He then sent one more text to Luan followed by a heart emoji.**

_You too._

Benny thought that he'd check the other three messages from his parents.

_Hey, Benjamin._

_How are things with Jon?_

_Please, let us know if you're alright._

**Benny smiled. He then placed his phone back on the end table and went into the bathroom to shower. Benny whistled a tune from Weird Al as he lathered his hair with shampoo while the water was all over him.**

**Suddenly, a blast of hot water hit him, and he nearly fell. He looked out the curtain and saw Garfield standing on the toilet lid.**

"GARFIELD!" Benny shouted on top of his lungs.

"Sorry, kid." Garfield said. "But, Jon wanted me to check and see if you were up. He's made breakfast."

"Well, I'd appreciate some privacy next time. Thank you." Benny retorted as he tugs on the shower curtain with a visible frown on his face.

"Jeez...ungrateful much?" Garfield mumbled as he left the bathroom.  
As the boy continued to clean himself, he suddenly remembered about Lyman and the rude awakening from a few hours ago. Why didn't Jon tell him about his former roommate?

**Benny had an uncanny and disturbing suspicion about this certain man. He seemed like that one guy who would get intoxicated almost every day, causing commotion, disappearing into the darkness and then coming back at like 5:30 in the morning. He also seemed kind of… creepy in a way.**

_Why did I let that guy in? Benny thought. What if he tried to hurt Luan in some sort of way? What if he tried to hurt Jon and everyone else?_

**Benny was so preoccupied by his thoughts that he accidentally slipped on soap and fell. He then rested his back against the wall and went back to thinking.**

_Luan's going to be coming here soon. What am I going to do about Lyman?_

"Benny! Benny! Are you okay?!"

**Startled, Benny put his hands in front of his private area before looking up at his cousin.**

"I-I'm fine, Jon." Benny replied. "I was just getting ready to get out, and I must've fallen."

"Well, I hope you're hungry, because I made a big breakfast." Jon said. "Now you better hurry and get dressed before it gets cold. I'll make coffee afterwards."

"S-Sure." The former responded nervously.

**After that, Benny headed straight downstairs to the kitchen where Jon was waiting. The teen saw a stack of blueberry pancakes with syrup and butter and a small cup of whipped cream on the side, obviously untouched. And right next to it was a mug of warm freshly brewed coffee. He sat down and happily gobbled it up, taking an occasional stop to sip on coffee.**

"So, I take it you enjoy my flapjacks?" Jon asked.

But then, Lyman came into the room. Jon just glared at the mustachioed man.

"Well, look who finally decided to show up." Jon said.

"Is there any coffee, Jon?" Lyman asked. "I hardly slept."

**Jon rolled his eyes and fixed up another cup for Lyman.**

**As the man sipped on his coffee, he spoke.**

"Listen... Jonny boy." Lyman said. "You think you can drive me over to Fort Wayne tonight? I'd go there myself, but I don't have a car...or a license"

"I have a date with Liz tonight… sorry."

"You still dating that vet? Why settle for one girl when you can have so much more?"

"Not in front of Benny, okay? He doesn't need to be influenced by you."

"Influenced? What the hell are you talking about?"

Jon then turned to look at Benny.

"Do you think you can wait by the car, Ben?"

**Benny said nothing as he took his coffee and walked outside.**

"I mean, all you do all day is get drunk, go to nightclubs, get high on weed, or even snort coke!"

"So? At least I have fun in my life instead of being depressed or kowtowing to the will of two house pets."

"I do NOT bow down to my pets! They're not the bosses of me! I am the boss of THEM!"

"I'll bet you are, Jonny boy."

**Jon groaned and went to find Garfield and Odie.**

"Forget it! I gotta get to the Comic Studio."

"You're still going to that place? They kicked me out for no reason and I'm no longer in the comic strip franchise."

"Was it because you drank too much?"

"In the Lyman's term...ehhh, maybe."

**Jon sighed.**

"Sorry I asked." He mumbled. "Garfield! Odie! It's time to go!"

"Oh joy." Garfield said sarcastically.

Odie started barking with joy.

"I'm excited as you are, Odie." Jon said as he smiled.

Then Jon, Garfield and Odie walked out of the door to the car where Benny was waiting.

"You ready to go, Benny?"

**Benny nodded before calling shotgun, much to Garfield's dismay.**

"I guess that means I have to share the back seat with the dog?" The fat cat asked.

"Yes." Jon answered. "And with Arlene and Nermal as well."

"Nermal? Why him...?"

"Garfield, just be nice."

**The cherry red-colored vehicle drove off of the concrete driveway of Jon's house and out of the neighborhood. As Benny looked out of the car window, he still couldn't help but wonder how to tell Jon that Luan was coming over for a visit, or how Luan would react if she saw Lyman.**

"Benny? Are you okay?" Jon asked.

"Huh? Oh, yeah!" Benny replied, snapping out of his thoughts. "I'm fine."

"Okay then."

"Jon, can you turn on the radio?" Garfield asked.

Jon turned on the radio and the song "I'm Fat" by Weird Al started playing, much to Garfield's irritation.

"Oh boy." He said. "Why did this guy have to exist?"

"Well, for your information, Weird Al happens to be one of Luan's favorite artists." Benny added as he gazed at the passing trees outside. "So, maybe that's good enough of a reason."

"Well, then she must have a sour taste in music." The fat tabby retorted.

**In response, Benny snarled at him.**

"Woah! Easy there, Tigger. Can't you take a joke?"

"Benny, just try to relax and enjoy the ride!" Jon pointed out.

"You better not let Luan hear you say those things when she shows up!" Benny snapped.

**Benny then realized what he just said and covered his mouth. Jon then stopped the car and looked over at his cousin.**

"Your girlfriend's coming to visit?" Jon asked. "Why didn't you tell me this?"

"I wanted to wait until the time was right." Benny replied. "Plus, with Lyman staying here, that's going to make things more difficult."

"Hey, don't worry about Lyman. We'll figure something out. Besides, maybe she'll be a better guest than Lyman."

"Thanks, Jon."

**Jon then started the car again and continued on their way to Indianapolis.**


	5. crackpots, comics & condoms

**NOTE: There are some things in this chapter that are NOT suitable for young audiences under the age of 18. Viewer discretion is advised.**

**Now on with chapter five.**

**The gang arrived at the building approximately around eleven thirty. It was quite noticeable that the workplace got remodeled. Jon paid for his ticket at the ticketbooth and went through the secured gate.**

**As soon as they found a good parking space, they got out of the vehicle and entered the building.**

"Wow, it's amazing how they redecorated that place." Garfield said, sarcastically.

"Now, Garfield." Jon replied. "I don't want you and your friends making any trouble for me today. I'm going to give Benny a little tour, and I want you to wait in the cafeteria."

"They better have lasagna today." Garfield mumbled under his breath as he and the others followed Jon inside.

**The cafeteria was full of chatter between workers and visitors as the animals walked in.**

"I see this place hasn't changed one bit." Arlene commented.

"Yes...unfortunately…" Garfield mumbled as he sat down at a table.

"But don't worry, Garf. Today will be a great day." Arlene replied as she smiled at the fat cat. "So can you try to relax for me? Please?"

**Garfield sighed and rolled his eyes.**

"Well, since you insist."

**Arlene and Odie then sat with Garfield at the table. Then a certain little gray furred tabby cat happily skipped into the cafeteria with a coloring book and a tiara placed on his head.**

"Oh great." Garfield said. "As if this wait couldn't get any worse."

"Garfield." Arlene said, looking at the orange cat.

"Right, right." Garfield said, keeping his cool. "So what brings you back to this dump?"

"Not much, really." Nermal replied. "I just wanted to see if anyone wanted a look at the world's cutest cat."

"Sorry I asked." Garfield mumbled.

"I brought in my Barbie coloring book with some crayons!"

**Garfield made a face when the smaller cat put his book on the table, opened it, and started coloring.**

"Wow...that's not gay at all." Garfield said sarcastically.

"Hah! You're just jealous that I can actually color in the lines unlike you."

"It's not the coloring that bothers me, kid."

"How about we change the subject, okay boys?" Arlene cut in.

"Alright." Garfield said.

"Good idea." Nermal added.

"You know, Garf. "Arlene said at last. "I've been having kitty fever lately."

"Kitty fever?" Garfield replied, confusingly.

"Us bringing kittens into this world. I mean, we've been together for years, and maybe it's about time to...settle down?"

"Awww," Odie responded.

**Garfield blushed madly as a red hot tomato. The idea of having a family with Arlene was something very unexpected.**

"Okay! Let's not go there." Nermal said, breaking the silence.

"For once, Nermal's got a point." Garfield said at last. "This isn't really the ideal time and place to be having this sort of conversation."

"Fine… Sorry."

"How about we talk about the fact that Jon's second-cousin's girlfriend might be coming over someday."

"Who?" Nermal replied.

"Benny. Jon's second-cousin. He's come all the way from Michigan for a visit."

"What about the girl?"

"He said her name's Luan. I honestly never met her, but I'm kind of afraid to find out what she's like."

"Oh," Arlene replied.

"Well, now I am curious," Nermal said. "Is this girl pretty?"

"Okay, how about we get something to eat before I lose my appetite from this conversation?"

"Alright." Arlene said.

"Might as well." Nermal added. "I'm getting hungry as well."

"Mm-mm." Odie nodded.

**The four pets got out of their seats and went to the serving area.**

**_Meanwhile with Jon and Benny…_**

**As the two guys walked through the hallways of the studio, Benny then felt something vibrating in his pocket. He reached into it and pulled out his cell phone, checking it to see that he got a text from Luan.**

**Benny sent a text back telling her that he was taking a tour of his cousin's workplace.**

**Luan then replied with another text, expressing her interest in Jon's work.**

**At that moment, Jon and Benny approached the bathrooms.**

"So, this is the men's bathroo-Benny!" Jon quickly turned around as he saw the phone in the young boy's hand before snatching it from him.

"Were you even paying attention? I am trying to show you my work and you have your eyes fixed on your phone!"

"Sorry, Jon. I got another text from Luan."

**Jon then looked at the texts and sighed while grabbing the bridge of his nose.**

"I'm sorry, Ben." Jon said. "I know you miss Luan, but I really need you to be on board with this tour."

**Jon then got on one knee and put his free hand on Benny's shoulder.**

"You'll get to talk to her again after the tour… Okay?"

"Yeah, I guess." Benny sighed before following his cousin further down the hall.

**_Meanwhile, at the Loud House…_**

**_12:15pm_**

**Luan is seen in the kitchen helping Lynn Sr. cook lunch for the family. She had just gotten off texting with Benny and needed something to do to help pass the time. Lucy, Lisa, Lily, and the twins were seated at the kiddie table.**

"Benny told me that his cousin is giving him a tour of his studio." Luan said.

"You don't say?" Lynn Sr. replied.

"I hope I get one someday."

"Maybe you will."

**In response, Luan gave her father a smile.**

"Oh, dad, have you ever been to Indiana before?"

"I have, actually. A few times. One was for Lori's surgery, another one was for a vacation with your grandfather and the last one was for visiting an old family friend from back in the day who lived in Bloomington."

"What about Muncie?"

"Just once. I don't remember much, but one thing that did was that I went to lunch at this place called Vito's."

"Vito's?"

"It's a pizzaria. He arguably has some of the best pizza I ever tasted."

"Interesting. Well… I'd like to go there and try a pizza that!"

**Luan gave her signature laugh, which also got her father laughing at the joke.**

"That's a good one."

**Lucy, Lisa, and the twins groaned from the kiddie table before the gothic girl leaned towards her younger siblings.**

"If I hear one more joke come out of Luan, I'm going to die." Lucy said quietly to the others.

"So am I." Lola responded back.

"Technically, you cannot be deceased from hearing rubbish jokes." Lisa added.

"I can't wait until she leaves this house." Lola said, earning looks from her siblings.

"I heard that she's planning on going to Indiana soon."

"You've been looking around in her diary again, haven't you?" Lisa insinuated.

"Nooooooo?"

"Come on, Lola. Don't lie about it. We all know about your nature of snooping into other people's businesses.'

"You're one to talk, coming from a girl who sets up cameras in our bathroom." Lola retorted.

"That event was so long ago and I changed into a new human being."

**Lisa then gave off a grin and looked left and right, hoping they bought it. Of course, Lola was not convinced.**

"Uh-huh." Lola muttered.

"I promise, okay?!"

"How about we get back to Luan?" Lana interrupted.

"Lana's right." Lucy said. "So why would she be wanting to go over to a town one state over?

"If my knowledge of our comedienne sister is correct, she basically wants to spend time with her significant other." Lisa replied.

"What's so special about that Benny guy? Not to be rude or anything, but he looks like a bootleg Jon Arbuckle to me." Lola said.

"Well, that would be because this Jon Arbuckle, full name, Jonathan Q. Arbuckle is Benjamin's second cousin."

**Lisa's siblings looked at her when they heard what she said.**

"You mean, he's related to THE Jon Arbuckle from the Garfield comic strips?" Lana questioned. "By blood?"

"Precisely." Lisa answered. "Jon's cousin, Marian Arbuckle-John is Benjamin's biological mother., whilst Harold John is his father."

"How do you know all of this?" Lucy said, weirded out.

**Lisa simply looked at her siblings again.**

"I...might have looked into Benjamin's personal history."

"And Jonathan appears to have a pot-bellied, lasagna loving, orange feline cat with the name of Garfield and a yellow furred canine named Odie, which that said dog was originally owned by Jonathan's old high school friend, Lyman Jackson but he disappeared around the year 1983 in the comic strips."

"Nobody knows where Lyman could be now. Many theories have it as if Jonathan had locked the man in his basement and never spoke about it."

"Interesting theory." Lucy replied.

"But apparently, he made an appearance on live television for the very first time in 2012. Only, it wasn't coming from the United States."

"Where was it coming from then?" Lana asked.

"Some kind of jungle area located in Australia called Franistan."

"But there's no such place." Lola replied.

"I think they wanted to keep it off the map."

"You know, I feel like I heard of this Lyman guy before..." Lana pointed out. "Didn't dad mention him at one point?"

"I seem to recall our male parental unit mentioning Lyman while I was still an infant." Lisa replied. "And while he's a somewhat caring owner, for the most part, I also saw the way Lyman treats Odie, which I find harsh."

"Like how?"

"He held the canine's cervix and whacked him with a newspaper all because the pup micturated on the floor."

"Oh… wow. Not how I'd handle Charles."

"In another strip, Lyman also took the pup out for a stroll while there was a blizzard. He was as frozen as an ice sculpture."

"Brrr…" Lola responded.

"Then there was this April Fools' Day strip where Odie got kicked by Lyman due to Garfield's shenanigans."

"That's…. messed up to say the least. Some people just don't deserve to be pet owners. You should never treat an animal like that." Lana replied.

"But one day, Jonathan completely had enough with Lyman's abuse towards Odie and decided to take him in."

"Thank goodness."

**At that moment, Lynn Sr. came up to the table with five plates before placing each one in front of each of the girls.**

"Lunch is served!" Lynn Sr. said. "I hope you kids like it."

_**Meanwhile back in Indianapolis, Indiana…**_

**Jon Arbuckle and his cousin were still walking down the hallways of the studio until the former pulled out a brown wooden pipe from his front pocket.**

_**12:30pm**_

"I need to take a small break, Benny."

**After Jon had said that, a familiar figure began to walk towards them. Which appeared to be a middle-aged woman with a medium length ginger hair.**

"Jon? Jon Arbuckle? Is that you? It's been such a long time since we saw each other! And your pets, too."

"Betty?" Jon answered.

"Who's Betty?" Benny questioned.

"I didn't know you settled down and have a family of your ow-"

"Oh him? No, no, that's just my second cousin. He's come over for a visit." Jon said. "Benny, this is Betty Wilkerson. She's one of the workers for the studio."

"Yeah. I'm Benjamin, but everyone calls me Benny for short." The boy smiled.

"Nice to meet you, Benjamin. I'm Betty Wilkerson. How are you enjoying the tour?"

"I'm liking it so far." Benny replied. "Maybe I should make a cameo in a future strip."

"Maybe you shouldn't… you know." Said a male voice.

"Ahhh!" Jon and Benny yelped.

"Don't scare us like that, Eli!" Jon shouted.

"Sorry about that." Eli said before looking at Benny.

"Anyway, this is Eli." Jon said. "He's the studio's head technician."

"But yeah. You cannot appear in the comics because of...certain reasons."

"What kind of reasons?" Benny asked.

"You're not considered a, quote unquote, "non-canon" character in this franchise. That's why other characters in the cartoons are not featured. It would seem very unnecessary for you to make an unannounced appearance but by the next day, you just disappear out of nowhere."

"Characters like...who, exactly?"

"Well, characters like Randy Rabbit, Billy Bear, Bonita and Wally, etc.."

"That's kind of a shame. I think my girlfriend would've been surprised to see me in one of my cousin's comics."

"I mean, he has a point." Jon said.

"Hmmmm." Eli thought. He then walked over to Jon and whispered something in his ear.

**Jon nodded his head a few times before he gave off a small smile.**

"That's not a bad idea, Eli." Jon replied. "That could work."

"What's going on, Jon?" Benny asked curiously.

"Well, Benny. Me and Eli decided if there was a character based on you in the Billy Bear comic?"

**Benny's face lit up with happiness.**

"Oh, that's great! If Luan could see me now."

"Work is about to start in a few minutes. In the meantime, how about you get something to eat at the cafeteria?"

"Will do."

**Benny walked away and entered the cafeteria. He saw Garfield, Odie, Arlene and Nermal sitting at another table eating their food while chatting.**

**_1:00pm_**

"Who's that weird kid looking at us?" Nermal asked.

"Oh, that's just Benny. I told you about him six pages ago, didn't I?"

"Yes...?" Nermal said, confused at what Garfield just said. He then shook it off and waved his hand at the boy.

_**Benny waved back then walked over to the serving area to grab some food.**_

"That's him? He's kinda well… um… cute in a way." Arlene replied.

As soon as he got everything, Benny walked over to Garfield's table before sitting next to the fat cat.

"Hi." Benny said, quietly.

"Hello, Benny. I'm Arlene." Arlene said. "I'm...a friend of Garfield's."

**Just then, Nermal stood in front of Arlene.**

"Hi! I'm Nermal. The cutest kitty cat in the world." Nermal smiled while giving Benny his cutesy eyes. Benny gave a slight chuckle at the sight.

"I'll bet you are. Here, have half of my spaghetti."

**Garfield growled as he saw the gray cat getting free food for being cute.**

"Are you kidding me?" Garfield grumbled with gritted teeth. "I can be cute, too!"

Garfield gave off his own version of a cutesy face, but Benny simply rolled his eyes.

"No. Just...no." Benny replied. "This is just...uncute."

"Well, at least I tried. So what's with you, Ben?"

""Nothing much, really. Jon gave me a tour around the building. Oh, and Jon thought about letting me make a cameo in one of his comics...sort of."

"You don't say?"

"That's amazing, Ben!" Nermal added.

"By the way, I heard you have a girlfriend." Nermal said. "Is she pretty?"

"Oh, boy." Garfield mumbled. "Here it comes."

"Of course she's pretty." Benny said as he blushed. "Pretty funny, I can tell you that. But in a good way."

"Awww. How long have you guys been together?"

"Two years… actually."

"By the way, did you guys… well… 'do it' yet?"

**Benny gave Nermal a weird look while Odie covered his eyes and groaned.**

"You're weird. Why do you wanna know that?"

"Because I'm quite curious!"

"No one wants to know that!" Garfield interrupted. "This fan fiction's getting weird with a kitten asking this sort of question!"

**Everyone looked at Garfield with confusion. Benny was about to say something when the bell rang.**

"Never mind." Garfield said as he got off the seat. "Let's just do the strip."

**Benny and the pets exited the cafeteria alongside everyone else to the auditorium. Most of the top row bleachers were already taken by other people so Benny, Garfield, Odie, Arlene and Nermal had to sit on the bottom row.**

"Quiet down, everyone!" Betty said, with a smile on her face. "I know all of you are excited about doing your comic strip franchises and all."

"I know I'm not." Garfield whispered to Odie.

"Do I hear talking?" Betty said.

**In response, Garfield shuttered.**

"I didn't think so." Betty said.

"Oooooh." Nermal said under his breath.

**At that same second, Charles called out for Garfield and Odie through his megaspeaker while sitting on his dark red director chair.**

**Garfield and Odie got into position on the set. Odie slept on his stomach while wagging his tail. The orange cat then looked at the camera.**

"Odie is trying to be more like me." Garfield said.

Garfield looked back at Odie, who was still wagging his tail while sleeping.

"I'd lose the tail wag there, pal."

"Aaaaaaand...perfect!" Charles called out.

**Garfield and Odie got off the stage before heading back to the bleachers. Benny felt a little pain in his stomach.**

_Damn it!_ Benny thought. _That spaghetti isn't sitting too well!_

**Benny got off the bleachers and asked Betty to be excused.**

"Uh, miss Betty, may I please use the bathroom?"

"Yes, go ahead. Make sure to be back in ten minutes." Betty said as she looked up from her clipboard.

**Benny dashed out of the auditorium very fast to the restroom, Garfield saw the boy run and spoke to Odie.**

"You think it's food poisoning?"

"Ri do row." Odie replied. (Translate: "I don't know.")

**_Meanwhile with Benny…_**

**He finally made it to the bathroom and rushed in before going into an empty stall to relieve himself. As soon as he was finished, Benny felt a sense of relief come over him. But as he relaxed, he heard some moaning coming from the stall next to him.**

"Is someone in pain over there or something?"

The moaning continued. "Oh god." Benny rolled his eyes. "What's going on in there?"

**Benny then noticed a hole in the wall between the two stalls. After taking one peek through the hole, he saw a man and a woman making out. At that point, the woman had stopped and was now on her knees, lowering the man's jeans.**

"Ew! What the hell?"

"Hey! Get out of here, kid!" The man snapped.

"Okay! I'm sorry!"

**With that, Benny rushed out of the bathroom as quickly as he could.**

**_Back with Jon…_**

**The Arbuckle man was seen sitting in his red cherry car having a smoke with his pipe while facetiming Liz. The gray-ish smoke came out of his mouth to the bright and sunny sky.**

"I can't wait for our date tonight, Liz. And let me just say, that It's gonna be better than the last one."

"Hope you don't vomit all over my dress this time." A deep female voice replied.

"Don't worry, I won't."

"Anyway, I have a small surprise for you tonight."

"Oh, really? What is it? A Weird Al-bum?!

**Jon chuckled as he made that pun.**

"Very funny, Jon...but no. It's… I can't tell you right now but I'll blow your mind once you see it." Liz couldn't help it, she let out a little chuckle.

"You're gonna be bald!?" Jon said as he looked at Liz, her head was wrapped in a white towel, covering all of her hair.

"No, Jon. Like I said, it's a surprise."

"Okay. I'm only kidding, by the way."

"I know you are, Jon."

"Oh, uh, Liz… May I discuss something with you?" Jon said as he felt his heart getting hotter and hotter.

"I'd love to, but I have to finish getting ready. Maybe we can discuss whatever it was on our date?"

"Yeah, yeah. Of course."

"I love you! I cannot wait to see you tonight." Liz replied as she began to disconnect from FaceTime.

"I love you too, sweetheart."

**Jon's heart felt like it wanted to melt into a puddle... He has been waiting for this moment for all his life. Jon heard a knocking come from his car window. He turned and saw Benny looking through the window.**

"What is it, Benny?" Jon asked.

"Jon, I… I saw something weird in the bathroom." Benny answered.

"What was it?"

"Well… it was just… weird." Benny replied quickly as he jumped into the car.

"Tell me."

"Fine…. I saw…. Two people…. Doing it."

"Yikes! Do you need any therapy after seeing that?"

"Nah, I think I'll do fine. I'll forget about it after watching a little TV."

"Oh, okay. I'm just looking after you, Benjamin."

"I know you are."

"Now why don't you go and get the others? We're going to be leaving soon."

"Sure."

**With that, Benny went back into the building to find Odie and the cats.**

**Back with Lyman in Jon's house…**

_2:20pm_

**The mustachioed man is seen in the basement, sitting on the old, torn sofa watching television on an old set while the sunlight outside gleamed in his face.**

"When will she be here?" Lyman whispered to himself. "My balls are getting a little impatient."

**As he said that, Lyman pulls out his joint and starts smoking it again.**

"I can't wait any longer. At least these fumes take quicker than Jon. She was supposed to be here about twenty minutes or so."

**Finally, the effects of the joint took effect, and Lyman was feeling more calm.**

"Damn, man."

**All of a sudden, the doorbell was rung. Lyman sighed before heading upstairs to answer it.**

"H- Hi… Are you the milkman?"

"No. I'm your girlfriend. Are you starting without me?"

**The woman had rich, curly, black hair which reached her shoulders. Her skin was brown as dark chocolate. She was thin and looked around 20-21 years old.**

"Oh...shit." Lyman replied, still high. "I'm s-sorry...Jay Jay."

**Jayden put her index finger over Lyman's lips.**

"Don't worry about it, baby." She said as she kissed him. "So how about letting me in?"

**In response, Lyman blushed and then invited his girlfriend into the house.**

"Oh, this is a nice house. That Jim guy was really nice enough to let you live with him."

"Of course he was." Lyman chuckled. "I've known that guy for years. It's Jon, by the way."

"Oh, right." Jayden said she sat her head on Lyman's shoulder. "Silly me."

**Lyman and Jayden then went into the basement and shut the door. But not before the man put a sign on the door saying "Don't look in Jon's basement".**

**_Two and a half hours later..._**

4:40pm

**Jon, Benny, Garfield and Odie had just arrived back in Muncie. They had dropped off Nermal and Arlene and went to the Mally Market to buy groceries for the house. As Jon was in the dairy aisle, he heard a similar voice approaching him.**

**However, Jon was so distracted that he bumped into a woman and fell over. Luckily, the woman was caught by someone else beside her.**

"Why, hello, Mr. Arbuckle!"

"Oh, hey, Mrs. Cauldron." Jon said. "Sorry, I didn't look where I was going."

"That's quite alright, Mr. Arbuckle." Mrs. Cauldron replied. "Just be a little more careful next time. Winona is a little delicate right now."

**It was then that Jon noticed something different about Winona.**

"Winona, are you...?"

**Winona nodded with excitement.**

"Wow! That's great! Congratulations, you guys!"

"Awwww!" Odie said.

"I was very excited when I heard the news myself." Mrs. Cauldron said before looking at Benny.

"And who is this fine young lad?"

"Mrs. Cauldron, I would like you to meet my second cousin, Benjamin John. Benny, this is one of my neighbors, Esther Cauldron."

"Hi there."

"Oh, it's a pleasure to meet you, Benjamin." Mrs. Cauldron said as she pulled the boy in for a tight hug.

"Gosh, uh…" Benny said as he hugged her back. "You sound kind of like my mother."

**Mrs. Cauldron let out a chuckle in response.**

"Well, we won't keep you two waiting. We best get more shopping done."

**Mrs. Cauldron and Winona were getting back, but the blonde woman turned to look at Jon.**

"Oh, and Jon?" She said before giving him a purple envelope with fake violets glued on. "I'm having my baby shower next week. You guys should totally come!"

"Oh, sure! I'll mark that on my calendar."

"Oh goody." Garfield mumbled sarcastically.

_**Later…**_

**_7:05pm_**

**Jon, Benny and the pets arrived back at the house.**

**As soon as they entered the house with groceries, Jon noticed something on the basement door.**

"Don't look in Jon's basement?" The man read.

**Jon then made a suspicious face and turned to look at Benny.**

"You wait here, Benny. I'm going to check this out."

**With that, Jon dropped his bags and opened the door to be met with the smell of weed. He then held his nose and quickly shut the door so that it wouldn't escape. Jon then walked down the stairs until he saw Lyman getting a lap dance from Jayden.**

"LYMAN!" Jon yelled.

**The woman then got off of Lyman and got dressed before running up the stairs and out of the house.**

"What the hell, Lyman?! Who is this woman?!"

"Wha? Oh! That was...an old...friend… Yeah."

"You're high again, aren't you?"

"How am I h...high?"

"It smells like pot in here!"

"Well… that's your problem, Jonny… boy."

"My problem? My pr- MY PROBLEM?!"

"Oh shit, man…." Lyman whispered to himself.

"That is it! I want you out of this house right now! I am not having my basement filled with filth and weed!"

**Lyman then stood up and pathetically opened his arms to Jon.**

"How about...I give you a hug?"

**Lyman gave Jon a grin as he finished. But Jon grabbed Lyman's arms and started pushing him up the stairs.**

"No! I don't want your damn drug stench on me!"

**Jon then shoved Lyman out the front door and the mustachioed man fell on his side.**

"Come on, Jon! I won't survive out there!"

"And don't you come back until you've turned your life around!"

**Jon then slammed the door right in Lyman's face. The man then slumped his head down and turned around before heading down the sidewalk.**

**Back inside, Benny heaved a sigh of relief when he saw Lyman out of the house.**

"Thank goodness." He said.

"You know, I really pity that guy." Garfield said. "Oh wait, I don't. He deserved what was coming."

**Garfield then heard Odie whimpering, much to the fat cat's dismay.**

"Don't tell me you feel bad for him, Odie. That crackpot almost burned the house down."

"Garfield, why don't you play with Odie in the backyard? I think I need to sit down for a bit."

"Very well, Jon."

**With that, Garfield took Odie out the back door while Benny stayed in the living room with Jon. The man then sat on the couch and rested his head on his hand.**

"Why did I let that douchebag stay with me?" Jon said as he sighed.

"I let him in." Benny replied.

"Right, right, I remember."

"Look, why not get ready for your date with Liz? I'm sure that'll take your mind off of Lyman."

"You're right, Benny. I can't let him get to me."

"That's good, Jon."

**Jon got up from the couch and went upstairs to get ready. Benny went on his phone and texted Luan.**

_Hey Luan._ He typed with a yellow heart emoji.

_Hi… I'm kinda busy right now._ Luan responded.

_Busy doing what? _Benny replied.

_Packing._

_Packing? For what?_

_To see you, dummy!_

_Oh, really?_

_Of course! Sorry I can't be here long, I have to finish getting ready._

**And then Luan had left Benny on read for the whole night.**

_Oh, dang. She left me on read, again. _Benny thought to himself.

**Just then, Benny snapped out of his thoughts when he heard a scream coming from upstairs. Benny ran up the stairs and into the bathroom where he saw a mouse taking a bath in the sink wearing a condom on it's head.**

"What the...?" Benny questioned.

"There's a mouse in the house again! Ahhhh!" Jon yelled from the shower.

"Why is…there a mouse...wearing...a...uhhh..."

"I don't know?! You tell me!"

"Alright, just calm down, Jon. Take a deep breath, and calm down."

"Okay, you're right."

**Jon inhaled and called out the orange tabby cat's name.**

"GARFIELD!"

**The volume of Jon's voice started Benny and the boy covered his ears.**

"That wasn't what I had in mind." Benny mumbled as he left the room.

In just a few seconds, Garfield had arrived.

"What is it now, Jon?" The fat cat said he walked into the bathroom.

"A MOUSE!" Jon screamed as he pointed to the rodent in the sink.

**Garfield looked up and saw the mouse wearing the condom on it's head.**

"Okay, I've seen a lot in my time, but mice wearing slippers is where I draw the line."

"You got a problem with that, Garf?" The mouse said with a sassy tone.

**Just then, Benny came back holding a glass jar.**

"I better take care of it." Benny said as he walked over to the sink.

**Benny removed the lid off the jar and slowly motioned his hands towards the mouse.**

"Come here, mousey." Benny said. "That's a good fella."

**The mouse didn't know what to think at this point, but allowed himself to be taken in the teens hand and into the jar. Benny then removed the condom off the mouse's head and threw it in the trash can before putting the lid back on the jar.**

"There we go. Now let's get you outside."

**As Benny walked out of the bathroom, a surprised Garfield turned to look at the readers.**

"Ladies and Gentleman, I give you the Mouse Whisperer."

**Benny then walked into the backyard, removed the lid from the jar and gently put the mouse on the ground.**

"There you go, little guy." Benny said. "Now why don't you scamper along?"

**Benny then went back into the house and shut the door.**

"Gee. What a nice guy." The mouse said before running off.

_**Later…**_

**_8:10pm_**

**Jon had arrived at Liz's apartment. He got out of his car, walked up to the front door and rang the doorbell. After about twenty seconds, Liz showed up. It was then that Jon noticed something different about his girlfriend. Her usual brunette hair was now blonde.**

"Who are you, and what have you done with Liz?" Jon exclaimed.

"Maybe this will jog your memory?"

**Liz dragged Jon to her and kissed his lips in response.**

"I knew it was you, Liz." Jon said. "Shall we?"

_**With that, Jon and Liz linked arms and walked to the car. Jon let Liz in the passenger seat before the cartoonist took the wheel and drove to Vito's.**_

**_Later…_**

**Jon and Liz have arrived at Vito's.**

_**The Italian themed pizzeria was nearly packed with customers. Vito came out bursting through the kitchen door while he had pizza sauce and grease all over his apron. The waiters and waitresses were already serving meals to the other tables.**_

"Bonjourno, Mr. Arbuckle and… Eh? Who are you?! And where's-a Dr. Wilson?!" Vito exclaimed.

"I am Dr. Wilson, Vito. I just dyed my hair." Liz smiled as she sat down at the table.

"Oh, but of course-a!"

"What can I do-a for you today, eh?"

"I think we'll have the usual."

**A little while later, Vito came back with the pizza and put it in the middle of the table.**

"You know, you seem really cheery today, Vito."

"Well, I just-a got engaged to my beautiful and lovely neonata!"

"Really?" Jon said. "That's great!"

"Congratulations, you guys!" Liz added.

"A-many thanks!" Vito replied. "We are getting married in Italy this Summer! I am ecciato."

"Well, best of luck in your future endeavors, Vito." Jon said.

"Molte grazie, Jon!" Vito said before heading back to the kitchen.

"So, what was it that you wanted to talk to me about it?" Liz asked.

"My second cousin is visiting for a few weeks." Jon said.

"That's nice." Liz replied. "Which one is it?"

"It's Benjamin, Marian's second child."

"You know, it's been a while since you've mentioned Marian. Plus, I remember you were watching over her daughter once."

"Yeah. The little girl really wanted to play with Garfield."

**Liz giggled in response.**

"Well, you're not going to believe what I've been through these last few days."

"What happened?"

**Jon sighed.**

"You remember Lyman, don't you?"

"Yeah? That pothead?"

"Well, that bum came by my house a few days ago and was really driving me up the wall. I just kicked him out when I found him doping with a girl in my basement. My! Basement!"

"Wow! That is just...wow."

"I've been trying to help him fight with his alcohol and drug addiction multiple times in the past but that obviously didn't work. No matter how much I try to help him, nothing seems to work. I shouldn't feel like a mother or a babysitter to him."

**Liz then took her boyfriend's hand and looked him in the eyes.**

"Jon, you have to forget about him."

"I know, sweetheart, but… Did I make the right choice here?"

"I'm pretty sure you did. Lyman hasn't been the same since he left."

"I guess so… I just wish he'd turn around."

"If he doesn't want help, that's his own problem. I'm just glad I can help you."

**Jon gave Liz a small smile in response.**

_**Meanwhile back at the Arbuckle house…**_

**Garfield was getting ready to sleep in his bed when he heard whimpering outside.**

"Oh great!" Garfield mumbled. "What's wrong with that mutt now?"

**The fat cat marched outside to see what was the commotion about.**

"Odie, what's wrong? Some of us need to get some sleep."

**Odie turned to look at Garfield for a brief moment before looking back at the sky again. Garfield sighed and walked over to the yellow dog.**

"You're still upset about Lyman?"

**Odie looked at Garfield and nodded.**

"Look, Odie, I know he was your owner, but had to go. I mean, think about all the times he's treated you like crap."

**Odie then thought back to those times when Lyman went rough on him. There was that time he was whacked in the butt for messing up the floor. The time when he was taken outside in a blizzard. And the time when he was kicked in the butt for something Garfield did. Odie glared at Garfield when he thought about that moment.**

"Okay, so maybe that one time was my fault, but at least you've got Jon."

**Odie looked at his friend.**

"I know, he can be a bit absent minded, but he's been a better caretaker to us ever since you were abandoned."

"Some animals aren't so lucky like you and me." Garfield also added. "I'm just glad you're still with us. And I know, I can be a bit of a jerk as well, but I'm more than just a lazy, lasagna-loving cat who wants to send Nermal to Abu Dhabi."

**Garfield then pulled the crying dog in for a hug.**

"Alright, dog." Garfield said. "Just let it all out."

**As the two pets remained on the roof, Arlene had been watching the whole scene from nearby.**

"Poor baby." Arlene said as she left.

**As Arlene walked away, she couldn't help but smile at Garfield's display of compassion.**

_**Later that night…**_

**_9:55pm_**

**As the two lovebirds entered Liz's apartment, they headed into the bedroom.**

"So, Liz…" Jon said. "What do we do now?"

"Well...I was thinking...we'd play vet?"

"Play vet? What are you-?"

**With that, Liz planted her lips on Jon's and the two made out intensely with each other, making the room hot and steamy already.**

**Then Liz takes off her dress, which reveals pink underwear and a matching pink bra. Of course, Jon was feeling quite excited at the display.**

"You like what you see, Jon?"

**Jon was so hot that he began panting like a dog.**

"That's a good boy, Jon." Liz said. "I am the vet, and you're my pet."

**With that, Liz touched her index finger on Jon's side, and the cartoonist felt himself stiffening a bit more.**

**Finally, Jon then lunged at Liz and was now right on top of her. He then went for her neck and started nuzzling it, making the Vet moan in ecstasy.**

"Oh my god, Jon…."

"Yeah! I'm a bad dog, aren't I?"

**Jon then made a playful growl as he finished his sentence. Then he started to take off his suit and pants while Liz helped him. Jon was now in his boxers as he looked down at Liz, the Vet then noticed the bulge in her boyfriend's underwear and blushed like mad.**

"Jon, can I?"

Jon nodded.

**Then Liz pulled off Jon's boxers, which revealed a little something, then she stroked the cartoonist's manhood causing him to moan. She then put it inside of her mouth and began sucking.**

"Oh, yes. YES!" Jon moaned louder.

**Jon could not believe this. He was finally about to lose his virginity.**

**Then Liz got on all fours, she turned her back side to Jon.**

"I'm ready for you, Jonny boy!" She said seductively.

"Now...hold on a second." Jon responded. "If we're going this far, I need to be prepared."

**Jon then searched his pants until he found a condom. After taking the object out of it's package and slipping it on, he was now ready.**

**Then he got back on the bed and into position.**

"You ready, Liz?" He said.

"Oh, yes, Jonathan…" Liz replied.

**With that, Jon put his hands on Liz's hips, ready to go into her womanhood. Jon went into Liz's womanhood, causing her to moan again.**

**Then the scene cuts to outside the apartment.**

_**Meanwhile with Lyman...**_

**The man walked down all the way down to the bus station in the city. As he reached the bus stop, he found a seat and sat down and sighed. As he sat there, thoughts began racing through his mind.**

_What is wrong with you, Lyman?_ He thought to himself. _What have you done? Arbuckle hates your guts now. If it wasn't for those idiots in Franistan, you wouldn't be in this mess!_

**Lyman felt tears welling up in his eyes. He put his hands over his face and started crying softly.**

**Lyman snapped out of his thoughts when he heard the bus arrive.**

"Well…" Lyman said. "There's my ride."

**Lyman walked onto the bus and found his seat before it took off.**


End file.
